Laura Westengard’s Profile
American Literature and Culture after 1900, Intersectional Feminism, Queer Studies, Critical Trauma Studies, Gothicism, Medical Humanities
Coordinator–Gender & Sexuality Studies Minor
Faculty Advisor–PRIDE Club
Board Co-Chair–CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies, CUNY Graduate Center
Editorial Board Member–WSQ Journal, The Feminist Press
Member–CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium
Laura Westengard earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Riverside, and she holds an M.A. from the University of California, Riverside and a B.A. from California State University, San Bernardino. Her research and teaching interests include American literature and culture after 1900, queer studies, cultural studies, critical trauma studies, intersectional feminism, Gothicism, and medical humanities. She co-edited the book 25 Sitcoms that Changed Television: Turning Points in American Culture (Praeger, 2018), a collection that explores American culture after 1945 through the analysis of television sitcoms and their cultural resonances. Her book Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma, proposes the existence of a 20th and 21st century queer culture that responds to and challenges traumatic marginalization by creating a distinctly “Gothic” aesthetic (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). Using a cultural studies approach to examine the Gothicism in queer art and literatureâlive burial in lesbian pulp fiction, monstrosity in AIDS poetry, sadomasochism in trans performance art, the undead in contemporary film and televisionâthe book argues that queer culture is Gothic at its core.
Teaching, The Graduate Center, CUNY
PSYC 80103/WSCP 81000: Foundations of Queer Studies
Teaching, New York City College of Technology, CUNY
Literature:
ENG 2000: Perspectives in Literature (Outsider Literature; Gender and Sexuality Through Literature)
ENG 2400: Films from Literature
ENG 3402: Special Topics in Literature (Vampires in 20th and 21st Century American Literature, Film, and Television)
ENG 3407: Gothic Literature and Visual Culture
Gender & Sexuality Studies:
ENG 2160: Introduction to Womenâs Studies
ENG 2180: Studies in Identity and Orientation
Composition:
ENG 092W: Developmental Writing II
ENG 1101: English Composition I
ENG 1101CO: English Composition I with co-requisite
Education
Ph.D., English, University of California, Riverside
M.A., English, University of California, Riverside
B.A., English, with highest honors, California State University San Bernardino
Publications
Books:
Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019.
The 25 Sitcoms that Changed Television: Turning Points in American Culture. Co-edited with Aaron Barlow. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2018.
Write It: A Process Approach to College Essays with Readings (Third Edition), Instructorâs Manual. Co-authored with Kimberly Turner, Jim Condon, Joshua Fenton, Helen Lovejoy, and Megan MacAlystre. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2011.
Articles in Refereed Journals:
“Comparing Faculty and Student Perception of Academic Performance, Classroom Behavior, and Social Interactions in Learning Communities.” Co-authored with Karen Goodlad and Jean Hillstrom. College Teaching. 13 April 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2018.1453472
âThe Making of a New Writer: Tragedy and Tableau in Steinbeck’s Brooklyn.â Co-authored with Alan Lovegreen. Steinbeck Review. 13.1 (2016): 1-15.
“‘Conquering Immortality’: Gothic AIDS Literature as Queer Futurity in Gil Cuadros’ City of God.” JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory. 45.2 (2015): 274-300.
“Vampire Fantasy: Twilight’s Post-9/11 Neoqueer Vampires.” Assuming Gender. Special Issue “Neoliberal Gender, Neoliberal Sex.” 5.1 (2015).
Chapters in Edited Books:
âQueer Gothic Visual Art.â Queer Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Ed. Ardel Haefele-Thomas. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (forthcoming).
âQueer Poetry after 1945.â The Bloomsbury Handbook to Contemporary American Poetry. Ed. Steven Axelrod and Craig Svonkin. London: Bloomsbury Publishing (forthcoming).
âQueer Horror.â The Cambridge Companion to American Horror. Ed. Mark Storey and Stephen Shapiro. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
âQueer Gothic Literature and Culture.â Twentieth Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Eds. Sorcha NĂ Fhlainn and Bernice Murphy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
âGothic Gaga: Monstrosity, Trauma, and the Strategic Artifice of Lady Gagaâs Pop Stardom.â Star Power: The Impact of Branded Celebrity. Ed. Aaron Barlow. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2014.
Invited Talks and Podcasts:
âVampire Expert Reviews Vampires In Movies & TV,â Vanity Fair Reviews, Season 1, Episode 8, October 2022.
âGothic Ghosts: Queer Trauma and its Spectral Reverberations,â Spooky Evenings Lecture Series, Nebraska Wesleyan University, November 2021.
âMonster, Vampire, Cannibal: Queer Horror and the Gothic,â Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, October 2020.
âGothic Queer Culture,â New Books Network Podcast, September 2020.
âGothic Queer Culture,â The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, June 2020.
âGothic Queer Culture,â Part 1 and Part 2. Why Are People Into That!?, October 2019.
My Courses
Students critically read, analyze, and write about the popular genre of the Gothic. As represented in both literary and visual terms, in both Europe and the United States beginning in the late-18th century to today. Key concepts include horror, haunting, madness, and monsters.
This is a model course for ENG 1101
A course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques, including use of the library. College-level readings are assigned for classroom discussion and essay writing.
ENG2180 Identity & Orientation FA2023
This course provides students with an introductory understanding of identity, focusing specifically on the concepts of gender and sexuality as they intersect with race, class, ethnicity, and other aspects of social location and identification. Students will analyze the appearance of gender and sexuality as integrated social concepts by reading and discussing contemporary American literature across multiple genres and media, learning relevant biographical information about the authors, situating the texts within their historical and literary context, and exploring the major symbols and themes present in the work.
Students critically read, analyze, and write about the popular genre of the Gothic. As represented in both literary and visual terms, in both Europe and the United States beginning in the late-18th century to today. Key concepts include horror, haunting, madness, and monsters.
My Projects
City Tech’s Source for Academic Affairs Information
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Gender & Sexuality Studies Minor
Gender & Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary Minor that explores issues of gender and sexuality from various perspectives. It currently includes courses in English, Human Services, Social Science, and African American Studies, and will continue to grow to include even more disciplines. Students can take courses that focus on humanity, sexuality and sexual orientation, studies in gender identity/roles, representations of genders in literature and film, among other course themes. All courses are open-ended; as such, the course syllabi and themes may vary from year to year. Many Gender & Sexuality Studies courses at City Tech are Pathways certified and can satisfy Writing Intensive and Interdisciplinary Baccalaureate Degree requirements for graduation.
L4: Living Lab Learning Library
Welcome to L4, a virtual resource exchange of innovative teaching practices. To see all that L4 has to offer, please click on the âVisit Project Siteâ link.
My Clubs
This club is for support and friendship among the staff and faculty LGBTQ community.