Specialize in LGBTQ+ Studies with USask's New Certificate

University of Saskatchewan is working towards making change with our new certificate that focuses on queer theory, gender diversity, and sexualities studies.

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has recently created a new certificate program that focuses on queer theory, gender, and sexuality. This certificate will provide students with an interdisciplinary education where students can learn about queer studies in relation to history, anthropology, film, psychology, philosophy, popular culture, and more!

This new program, called Queer Theory, Gender Diversity, and Sexualities Studies, will be available for students beginning in the Spring 2022 term.

What to expect:

In Queer Theory, Gender Diversity, and Sexualities Studies, you’ll learn to use mixed qualitative, quantitative, community engaged, and creative methods. You’ll critically engage with the ways sexism, racism, ableism, queerphobia and colonialism enable Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit erasures in mainstream environments. You’ll also acquire transferable skills that enhance your capacities to contribute to professional roles committed to equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization. This specialized credential in a growing field is vital to human services careers, and will be established along a pathway that has proven successful at other institutions.

In an interview with CBC, Alessio Ponzio, a history professor at USask, said the goal of the new certificate is to "make queer people feel … accepted more. And it's going to be a way also to teach them about themselves, about others, about history, about anthropology.”

Possible courses:

Here’s a few courses you’ll be able to take while completing this certificate:

• Anthropology of Gender: the course focuses on two questions: how is gender understood in different cultural contexts? What are the processes by which people learn to identify themselves as gendered and sexual citizens?
• History Matters: Gender, Sex, and Society: this course examines how histories of gender, sex, and society have interacted and evolved through time. You will explore how, in various societies, social, cultural, political, legal, and medical views of gender and sexualities have both regulated gender and sexual norms and acted as levers of change.
• Images of Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture: this course will be an introduction to the ways gender, sexuality, and identity are represented and produced in popular culture, mainstream media, and populist feminist culture.
• Performing Masculinities: you will explore the ideological underpinnings of the category "masculinity," its shifting and contested meanings, and alternative possibilities for thinking and mobilizing the masculine.
• Queering our Schools and Communities: in this course, you’ll have the opportunity to address inclusive/anti-homophobic curriculum and how to support students and staff.
• Portraying Queer Identities in French Cinema and Television: you’ll be introduced to some of the most prominent themes and issues connected to the representation of LGBTQ2SA+ individuals in French cinema as well as on television. The focus of this course is to introduce students to the various meanings of “queer” by showcasing some prominent contemporary films/made for TV movies and directors while observing how the various representations offered are tied to the concept of “sexual citizenship” in a French context.
• Sex, God, and Rock n’ Roll: Re-Vamping the Sacred: This course on religion, music, and pop culture will investigate the intimate connections between human musicality and sexuality, and assess their impact on definitions of divinity and the sacred.

This is only a handful of the courses you can choose to study. So, no matter what interests you have, there will be an exciting course for you!

Certificate requirements

This certificate can be taken alone as a primary degree, or it can also be taken concurrently with another degree program as well. The certificate requires 15 credit units chosen from a list of predetermined courses. With each course accounting for three unit credits, you’ll only have to take a total of five courses to complete the certificate!

Why should you consider a certificate specializing in LGBTQ+ studies?

Whether you’re a part of the LGBTQ+ community or not, the information you’ll learn with this certificate is incredibly valuable. You’ll understand the history behind gender and how people learn to identify themselves, recognize foundational issues that promote a non-inclusive environment, and be better equipped to foster inclusivity in your personal and professional life. With this certificate, you’ll be able to select courses that are related to your interests. Do you like history? How about music or popular culture? Want to learn how education addresses (or ignores) LGBTQ+ topics? There’s something for everyone. So, diversify your education by learning about inclusion.

Check out this incredible opportunity to earn this certificate or add it to your current degree!