By Hasanthika Sirisena
I first realized I was bisexual in my late teens, early 20s.
It took me a long time, though, to wrestle with what that identity meant to me and to what community I actually belonged. I recognize, from personal experience, the ways that identities are hard.
Identity requires commitment and performativity and both of those things can be intellectually, emotionally, and physically exhausting. The queer literature class is fundamentally for me about three things.
First, it’s about working our way through early and contemporary queer literature to understand the experiences throughout time of the LGBTQIA movement. Despite persecution, queer communities have historically provided spaces for queer individuals to live openly—or to find shelter—and to experience love.
When it comes to gender expression, there exists many non-Western societies that recognize not two or even three but multiple genders. Queerness is diverse and manifold. Queerness has, historically, thrived and provided haven for artists and writers who have celebrated their communities and their lives, and I hope this class provides a platform to explore these accomplishments.
I wanted to provide an opportunity for students no matter how they viewed themselves or how they viewed sexuality or gender—straight or gay, as part of a binary or as fluid—a space to explore through critical thinking and creativity the issues that the LGBTQIA community and its allies struggle with.
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas posits the concept of public spheres, societies and groups engaged in political and cultural discussions about issues that are relevant to them. I do see the classroom as just such a public sphere—and the queer lit classroom as just such a space.
Finally, I asked to create and teach this queer literature class because of my discussions with queer students on campus. I spoke with LGBTQIA identifying students who felt that they weren’t heard, and their lives were misrepresented and misunderstood.
I spoke to students who wanted desperately to read work by writers that reflected their experiences. I heard from students who wanted to read classic works by writers and find models for their own creative writing.
This fall’s queer literature class should know that they are a pioneering group. When I asked the English and creative writing departments if I could create and teach this class last year both departments agreed immediately.
I still wasn’t sure what to expect. I worried throughout registration if the class would fill. I feel less like a teacher and more like the person at the prow of the boat holding the lantern.
I have already learned so much from my students, and I’m truly honored to have this opportunity to teach these books that I love deeply to a group of students I have already come to admire both as a collective and individually.
Hasanthika Sirisena is an assistant professor in the English and creative writing department. She is a writer who specializes in non-fiction and also is a visual artist. She enjoys reading all kinds of literature, and she is currently working on a graphic novel.