"Queerness is not yet here." José Esteban Muñoz begins Cruising Utopia with the provocation that queerness is a mode of desire that allows for an escape from the conditions of the present. How does queer studies contribute to the building of and the continued hope for a more just world? Through cinema, theory, and philosophy, this course makes the claim that investigating queerness in the world marks a critical move away from restrictive modes of identification and holds open life's horizons of possibility. Course texts emphasize queer cinemas of Asia and their transnational connections. 24S, 24P