Undergraduate Certificate in Queer Studies

Our Certificate in Queer Studies is relevant and beneficial for students in all areas of the humanities and social sciences, and for students planning to go into law, medicine, health, politics, business, or any other profession in which interpersonal skills are necessary and diverse communities are served.

• Courses

  Students are required to complete five courses (18 credit hours) with no individual course below a “C” grade, 3 credits from core courses, 15 credits from electives. Other related courses may be approved subject to consideration by the certificate director on a case-by-case basis.

   Earn at least 3 credits from the following :

  • WST 3641 - Introduction to LBGTQ+ Studies
  • WST 4334 - Queer Cinema
    • OR ENG 4141 - Queer Cinema
  • WST 4645 - Queer Theory

   Earn at least five (5) credits from the following:

  1. AFA 4372 - Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Hip Hop
  2. AFS 3332 - Gender and Sexualities in Sub-Saharan African Contexts
  3. ANT 3302 - Sex, Gender, and Culture 
  4. ENC 4405 - Queer Rhetorics
  5. ENG 4845 - Queer Studies: Literature, Culture and Theory
  6. LIT 4930 - Special Topics in Literature 
  7. INR 4073 - International LGBT Politics and Advocacy
  8. PHM 4020 - Love and Sexuality
  9. POT 4309 - Sex, Power and Politics

  For more information, consult the FIU Catalog and search for Queer Studies on the search bar on the left-hand side or contact us at wstudies@fiu.edu.

• Application

  Current degree-seeking students that haven't applied for graduation should send an email to wstudies@fiu.edu with their PID and expected graduation to begin the enrollment process. Students that have applied for graduation need to submit the Change of Program/Plan form to add a certificate. They can enter their information in the student section of the form and send it via email to wstudies@fiu.edu.

• About the Program

  Sexuality has historically been more assumed than studied; but the last two decades have seen the emergence of the comparative study of sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual expression as categories worthy of sustained academic analysis, alongside women’s studies and gender and feminist criticism. At the same time, colleges and universities across the United States, and indeed around the world, have seen a significant increase in student interest and activism around issues of particular concern to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer or Questioning individuals and communities (LGBTIQ).
  
  Since at least the 1980s, the word queer has been reclaimed from its history of derision and used by activists and organizers to empower individuals and communities in their struggle against violence and oppression based on sexual and gender expression. Queer is now recognized as a powerful critical term for understanding the wide range of sexual expressions, practices and identities. Queer doesn’t describe a single or unified sexual category, but conveys the countless ways of living as a sexual subject outside of historically recognized and socially privileged categories of sexual orientation and gender expression. The Undergraduate Certificate in Queer Studies at FIU endeavors to serve both the comparative study of human sexualities and the interests of LGBTIQ students.
  
  Although "LGBT Studies" is the designation given to many of the programs in the areas of non- normative gender and sexuality studies, we have chosen the name "Queer Studies" to reflect current developments across a wide range of academic disciplines, as well as in the culture at large. Put simply, Queer Studies has replaced LGBT Studies as the most appropriate name for a program committed to working on the cutting edge of scholarly research and teaching.