Carly Thomsen is an Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies at Middlebury College. Across her classes, students complete “translation assignments” through which they move course material beyond the classroom in fun and creative ways. Learning how to communicate academic ideas in this way, which inspires an engagement with texts deeper than that required for even the most sophisticated in-class conversations, comprises the backbone of Thomsen’s pedagogy.
Thomsen brings such epistemological commitments to her research as well. She translated, for example, some of the queer theoretical arguments of her book Visibility Interrupted: Rural Queer Life and the Politics of Unbecoming into In Plain Sight, a documentary film. (Learn more about the film here.) Thomsen’s work on reproductive justice, LGBTQ activism, queer rurality, and feminist pedagogy is published in Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Feminist Studies, Feminist Formations, Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice, Queering the Countryside: New Frontiers in Rural Queer Studies, The Legacies of Matthew Shepard: Twenty Years Later, The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory, and The Journal of Lesbian Studies. She is currently at work on Queering Reproductive Justice (under contract with University of California press).
For more information about Thomsen’s work, please visit: https://www.carlythomsen.com/
Rayn Bumstead is a Sociology and Studio Art double major from New Smyrna Beach, FL. In Introduction to Queer Critique, Rayn translated Lee Edelman’s No Future into the form of Candyland. The game’s aesthetics speak to Edelman’s concerns regarding the pervasiveness of the child in U.S. politics and discourse. Rayn did much of the graphic design work for this project and enjoys the process of presenting theoretical material in alternative visual forms.
Luna Gizzi is a Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies major from Berkeley, CA. During Introduction to Queer Critique, she translated Michael Cobb’s Single: Arguments for the Uncoupled into two versions of Twister for middle schoolers and Middlebury students. She is excited to be part of a project that has challenged her to learn how to talk about feminist and queer topics outside of the essay format.
Jessica Saunders is an Architecture and Environmental Studies joint major from Boston, MA. She got involved with the project after taking Introduction to Queer Critique, in which she translated Michael Cobb’s Single: Arguments for the Uncoupled into a game of Twister. She is excited to contribute to a project that prioritizes the process of translation and engages with complex theory through play.
Arthur Martins is a Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies major from Brasília, Brazil. In Introduction to Queer Critique, he translated arguments made by Jane Ward and Judith Butler into The Game of Labor. He believes in The Games Project because integrating queer and feminist forms of learning into the classroom is essential to enable social change.
Nadani Dixon is a Computer Science major and a Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies minor from Kingston, Jamaica. Nadani believes that Queer Studies has allowed her to develop a critical lens through which she assesses the technological products she makes and their impacts on people and our world. Nadani became involved in The Games Project after creating a game in Politics of Reproduction geared toward students interested in Science and medicine.
Masud Tyree Lewis is an Environmental Studies and Architecture Joint Major from Georgetown, Guyana. Masud created The Game of Labor in Introduction to Queer Critique. As a student deeply involved with many campus organizations, Masud appreciates that the process of game-making requires centering how to communicate with others.