Vogue'ology looks at the dance form of Vogue in relations to its rich and complex social context, namely the House and Ballroom Scene and the broad history of struggles against oppression undertaken by racial, sexual and gender minorities and poor. Many people want to learn to Vogue. As we go about doing so, however, we ask: What is one actually learning when we learn to Vogue? What the relationship is between the body of the performer, the body of the teacher and the body of the community? How do we embody history? What kind of knowledge is transmitted in this teaching and learning and what are the consequences of the different ways in which Voguing is taught? We will look at the roots of Vogue in performance forms dating from the slave era and the social shifts that occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. We will also examine the relationship between a dance practice and the social world. This includes a concern not only with race and gender but also with class and aesthetic, political and religious ideologies. Among the authors we will read are W.E.B. Du Bois, Kelly Brown Douglas, Theodore W. Allen, and Tricia Rose. This course counts toward the Gender Studies minor.