QUEER STUDIES NOW - 2026/7

Module Overview

Queer Studies Now is an advanced, interdisciplinary module that explores the most pressing questions, methods and frontiers in contemporary queer studies. Building on prior learning in gender and sexuality, it examines how contemporary queer scholarship engages with contemporary political debates, transnational and decolonial perspectives, digital cultures and data, health and disability justice, and new forms of community and kinship. 

Students engage with cutting edge research, including work emerging from scholars at the University of Surrey, and critically reflect on what it means to do queer studies inside and beyond the university. Teaching foregrounds queer as a method of inquiry and critique rather than a fixed identity category, and encourages experimentation in both content and form. Assessment combines rigorous academic analysis with opportunities to develop sophisticated, reflexive and transferable skills in research, communication and critical thinking.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

GRIFFITHS David (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Queer studies is a constantly-evolving field. Module content will therefore change to ensure that students are engaging with queer studies now. Indicative module content: 

• Queer history
• Methods and queer data
• Queer of color critique, decolonial and transnational studies
• Inter- and anti-disciplinarity
• Queer digital cultures
• Bodies, health and sex
• Communities and kinship
• Ecologies and the environment

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to allow students to demonstrate they have met the learning outcomes through deep engagement with scholarly material. Students will be supported to think critically about what constitutes queer studies, and engage with well-chosen non-academic literature and cultural texts as well. In depth written and verbal guidance about the assessments will be given to students, and class time is dedicated to assessment workshops. 

Assessment 1 (10%) - Reflexive learning journal 

Throughout the module, students are supported in keeping a weekly reflexive learning journal of 10 entries. The assessment focuses on students' engagement rather than judging the content, allowing students to develop their learning and explore ideas that may feed into their main assessment. Students will be awarded 10 summative marks for every entry fully completed. 

Assessment 2 (90%) - Individual presentation

Students will be supported in choosing an object of investigation for queer critique. They will be encouraged to think creatively about this, considering literature, speeches, media, cultural texts, ideas, concepts and more. As an interdisciplinary module, we expect students to bring different experiences and interests to this. Students will produce a recorded queer critique of their chosen object, demonstrating analytical fluency and engagement with queer methods. 

Students receive ongoing formative feedback throughout the module. There will be a dedicated week for formative work which provides opportunity to receive in-person verbal feedback. The reflexive learning journal also provides a point of self-directed formative feedback, and students are encouraged to use their journal entries to develop and refine the ideas they bring to their main assessment.

Module aims

• To develop students' advanced understanding of contemporary queer studies as a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that extends beyond sexuality and gender to encompass politics, culture, environment, health, and technology.
• To familiarise students with cutting edge queer scholarship and debates, including transnational, decolonial, anti-racist, abolitionist and digital perspectives.
• To enable students to apply queer approaches as critical and methodological tools to a range of empirical materials and cultural texts, within and beyond academia.
• To foster students' ability to communicate complex queer scholarship effectively across a range of formats and registers.
• To support students in developing reflexive awareness of their own positionality, and of the institutional, ethical and political conditions under which queer knowledge is produced and used.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide students with a space to consider what queer studies 'does' now. As such, lectures, workshops, guest lectures, discussions and a variety of other styles will be used to encourage critical thinking, reflection, and the development of ideas. 

There is a weekly reading and seminar preparation. The seminars/workshops will provide the opportunity to discuss topics and ideas in depth, as well as prepare for the assessment.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOC3092

Other information

Sociology is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas: 

Digital capabilities: Students analyse real-world data practices, from a queer perspective. Students will be encouraged to think about queer data, methods, algorithms and AI, and develop critical digital literacy. 

Global & cultural capabilities: Content from this module deliberately engages with a broad global queer context, as well as encouraging critical thinking about positionality as scholars in a UK university. The role of global politics is central to this module. 

Employability: Employability is embedded in the teaching and in the assessment. Peer-to-peer learning is heavily encouraged during seminars and give opportunity to hone communication and team-working skills. The assessment also requires reflexive application of academic ideas. 

Resourcefulness & resilience: Students will adapt to various learning methods, be encouraged to think critically about their own resourcefulness and resilience as well as their positionality. The assessment strategy provides ample opportunity to reflect and improve these skills.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.