The Yale Research Initiative on the History of Sexualities is dedicated to fostering research and theoretical reflection on the history of sexualities, especially as they intersect with other axes of social difference and inequality. It promotes inquiry into lesbian, gay, and transgender history and the role of sexuality in the history of the self, culture, nation, and empire. Based in the Department of History, the Initiative sponsors lectures, workshops, symposia, and collaborative research. The faculty co-directors are Regina Kunzel and Joanne Meyerowitz.
Affiliated faculty teach graduate and undergraduate courses on the history of sexuality, lesbian and gay history, and gender history, and work closely with students writing dissertations in those and allied fields. They also work with the Yale libraries to develop archival collections.
The YRIHS also organizes small national and international working groups that bring scholars together to explore critical questions in the history of sexuality. The working groups seek to generate new scholarship on the transnational history of modern sexual regimes, local sexual cultures, global sexual economies, and political conflicts over sexuality.
Visit our website at: yrihs.yale.edu