Introduction to Trans Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
AMST 265
Spring 2011 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 263 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural and Critical Theory |
This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of trans studies. Although gender-variant identities have a long history in the United States, and while gender diversity has been recorded in many societies, trans and transgender are relatively new social categories. And, while many academic disciplines--including feminist studies, queer studies, anthropology, and history--have studied trans communities, subjects, and bodies, it is only very recently that the field has become institutionalized in the academy as a discipline.
This course is organized around trans studies as an emergent field of study. We will take as our entry point a formative moment in academic institutionalization: the publication of the first academic reader in trans studies, Susan Stryker's and Stephen Whittle's THE TRANSGENDER STUDIES READER in 2006. Thinking critically about the categories of knowledge in this anthology (sex, gender, and science; feminist investments; queering gender; selves: identity and community; transgender masculinities; embodiment; ethics of time and space; and multiple crossings: gender, nationality, race) as well as the ways other disciplines have understood trans and other sexual minority communities, we will ask, What are the foundational objects and methods of trans studies? What are the guiding questions and debates within the field? What forms of knowledge does the category "trans" enable? What are the problems and possibilities of using "trans" cross-culturally? How are trans studies marked as different from the studies that have come before? Is institutionalization seen as necessary to knowledge production? And, finally, what are the (activist/academic) politics of the field's institutionalization?
Readings will be interdisciplinary and will include theory, memoir, film, history, activisim, legal studies, science studies, feminist and queer studies, and ethnography. Student interest, input, and participation are crucial to the course; the last weeks of the course are TBA to allow us to explore your particular interests. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(FGSS) |
Major Readings:
Potential Texts:
Susan Stryker, and Stephen Whittle, eds. THE TRANSGENDER STUDIES READER.
Viviane Namaste, SEX CHANGE, SOCIAL CHANGE: REFLECTIONS ON IDENTITY, INSTITUTIONS, AND IMPERIALISM.
Katrina Karkazis, FIXING SEX: INTERSEX, MEDICAL AUTHORITY, AND LIVED EXPERIENCE.
David Valentine, IMAGINING TRANSGENDER: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A CATEGORY.
Joanne Meyerowitz, HOW SEX CHANGED: A HISTORY OF TRANSSEXUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES.
Judith Halberstam, IN A QUEER TIME AND PLACE: TRANSGENDER BODIES, SUBCULTURAL LIVES
Don Kulick, TRAVESTI: SEX, GENDER AND CULTURE AMONG BRAZILIAN TRANSGENDER PROSTITUTES.
Max Valerio, THE TESTOSTERONE FILES: MY HORMONAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION FROM FEMALE TO MALE.
J. Bobby Noble, SONS OF THE MOVEMENT: FTMS RISKING INCOHERENCE ON A POST-QUEER CULTURAL LANDSCAPE.
Paisely Currah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter, TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
Julia Serano, WHIPPING GIRL: A TRANSSEXUAL WOMAN ON SEXISM AND THE SCAPEGOATING OF FEMININITY
Matt Bernstein Sycamore, NOBODY PASSES: REJECTING THE RULES OF GENDER AND CONFORMITY
Kate Bornstein, GENDER OUTLAW: ON MEN, WOMEN AND THE REST OF US
Anne Fausto-Sterling, SEXING THE BODY GENDER POLITICS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEXUALITY
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Examinations and Assignments:
Class project, 1-2 turns as discussion leader, short critical essays, final paper/project. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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