From circus performances and Mardi Gras, to masked balls and RuPaul’s Drag Race, American culture is inundated with representations of
masquerades. In this course, we will consider how the masquerade has been used in American visual culture to produce, recognize, and
negotiate different identities, and what that can mean for understanding and appreciating cultural, national, and personal distinctions in our own
lives. In a series of thematic classes, we will learn how identity, at its core, is multifaceted array of performances informed by one’s family,
politics, faith, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc. We will explore how these performances allow us to fit in and feel like part of a
community, express our personal identities, or portray a specific persona to the world––while also acknowledging that certain performances
can exploit power imbalances, reinforce discrimination, and/or promote exclusion.