CS 340H

Digital Intimacies

Provides a survey of some of the key issues facing scholars, society, communities, cultures and individuals surrounding the crucial conjunction of intimacy and digital culture. The course examines different theoretical and topical approaches to critical intimacies—taken broadly to mean close connections that matter, and upon which people build their lives and experiences—an emerging field of inquiry coming out of the intersection of queer theory with broader, intersecting politics. In taking “digital intimacies” as its main topic, this course will address both digital sexualities (including topics such as sexual subcultures over the Internet, cybersex, sexting, the online pornography industry, and virtual spaces created for sex—from MUDs and MOOs to Second Life); as well as broader forms of intimacy in digital spaces (such as the politics of friending, hashtag publics, avatars, texting practices among tweens, digital divides, video game relationships and connections, and the politics of virtual communities). Concepts and frameworks such as intimacy, queer theory, hybridity, imagined communities, cyborg identities, the posthuman, virtuality and affect theory will be explored along side and through considering the concrete issues above.