This course is an exploration and examination of critical transgender theory from both Western and Indigenous perspectives, specifically highlighting the works from Black Indigenous trans people of color; trans people in places of incarceration and detention; and, poor and economically disenfranchised communities of trans people. This course will consider questions such as: How is the identity of being trans conceptualized today? How has the meaning of transgender been appropriated, hegemonically instilled, and economically commodified while marginalized trans folx at the intersections of oppression remain excluded? How do intersecting issues surrounding (cishetero)patriarchy, mass incarceration, police brutality, immigration, imperialism, poverty, ableism, anti-porn propaganda, and intergenerational violence affect trans people and communities? This course is ambiguously yet intentionally structured into units surrounding: 1. Transfeminism: When and how transfeminism surfaced into the academic setting as a discipline within third-wave feminism. Why does it exist? Why do we need it? What are its genealogies? 2. Indigenous GLBTQ2 Thought: Why do we need critical Indigenous perspectives addressing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) peoples and communities? How might we address the systemic forms of cisheteropatriarchy ubiquitous in Western cultures and frameworks of thought? Can Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous people find space within transfeminism and other academic settings? 3. Critical Trans Theory: How might intersectional feminism have birthed critical trans theory out of intersectionality? Is “critical” theory in trans communities a new epistemology? What might this discipline hint (or demand) for a revolutionary and radical future?
Intersectional Trans Theory Syllabus
By sage elle, unknown
