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Trans rights and visibility have been hotly debated topics in US media and politics over the past years. Yet in spite of the much heralded “Transgender Tipping Point” that was announced by Time magazine in 2014 and the increased visibility of trans people in media and popular culture, the current administration has been steadily rolling back on trans rights and protections. In this seminar, we will think about the powers and failures of representation by looking at trans-authored theoretical and biographical texts. Starting in the 1990s with the emergence of Transgender Studies as a distinct field, we will read classic and more recent examples of trans theory—from Susan Stryker and Sandy Stone to Riley Snorton and Jin Haritaworn—alongside the self-narrations of such authors as, for example, Kate Bornstein, Eli Clare, and Janet Mock. Questions we will ask in this seminar include: What does it mean to be called on to narrate oneself, either in the form of theory or autobiography? What role does narrative play in the construction of identity? What role do narratives of the self play in community formation? What are the limits or pitfalls of representation? |
