and Women's and Gender Studies Portfolio
WGS 530 | Critical Sexuality Studies and Queer Theory
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This course led me to profoundly rethink the theoretical discussions pertaining to queerness and queer sexuality. The theoretical approaches I read destabilized the monoliths of white queer discourse and white feminist discourse (in and out of academia) and bestowed visibility onto voices that are not privileged as gendered, racial, bodily, or 'human' subjects. The queer theories centered identities marked as 'other' within the already 'othered' LGBTQIA+ community.
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WGS 602 | Internship Seminar
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This seminar class helped me expound on the thoughts and feelings that were generated by my experience at Higher Ground. The class led me to think about neo-liberalism, the non-profit industrial complex, and feminist social justice trajectories, all the while applying these concepts to my internship site. The course prompted me to think about the role of art, in particular, in HIV/AIDS activism.
Higher Ground
WGS 601 | ​Internship at Higher Ground
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Higher Ground is a day treatment center in Greensboro, NC for individuals who are HIV+. The Higher Ground house offers a respite for HIV+ folks to escape the social stigma of HIV and engage in various therapies and communal fellowship. In my internship role, I facilitate art therapy, story therapy, and (occasionally) lead group therapies pertaining to HIV and alcohol/substance abuse recovery. I engage with the community and foster friendships with the individuals utilizing services at the house, helping them advocate for themselves and within the HIV/AIDS activist movement overall.