Students will compare discourses that theorize identities as “real,” “authentic,” fixed, stable, and unchanging, to those that understand identities to be inauthentic, fluid, transitory, and ever-changing constructions. Texts that fall under the rubrics of Feminism, Black Cultural Studies, Chicana/o and Mexican American Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Queer Studies among others will be read to discern similarities and divergences. Key events, ranging from the NEA controversy (1989) to “The Decade Show” (1991), the Los Angeles uprisings (1992) to the Whitney Biennial Exhibition of 1993, will also be studied. Artists to be covered may include Robert Mapplethorpe, Adrian Piper, Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman, Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, James Luna, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, and Coco Fusco among others.