What is queer about narrative form? How has narrative shaped queer and trans theory? And what can contemporary queer and trans narrative teach us about the politics of gender, sexuality, and race now?
To address these questions, this masterclass will trace the recent explosion of interest in queer and trans narrative theory.
Participants will assess competing definitions, theories, and methods for narrative within queer and trans studies, searching for points of solidarity between these often-opposed fields, and the masterclass will pay special attention to the problems that self-narration poses for LGBTQIA+ people and communities.
Finally, participants will debate how queer and trans narrative theory might help to revive humanistic approaches to gender and sexuality, which have been increasingly pushed aside in favor of social science methods.
In preparation for the masterclass, participants are encouraged to reflect on the narrative forms that have been essential to their understandings of gender and sexuality, such as coming-out stories, web comics, fan fiction, serial television, horror movies, literary fiction, gossip, erotica, and fairy tales, to name just a few.

Registration deadline: 15 May 2026.