GSS208

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies. Students consider questions that challenge the simplistic binaries of woman/man and sex/gender; trace the Euro-Western conceptualization of “transgender” with critical attention to the elision of non-Euro-Western conceptualizations; and investigate the development of transgender studies as an academic field distinct from queer studies. What impact have pivotal political and legal changes and social movements had on the lived experiences of transgender and gender-expansive people, in particular those who are multiply marginalized by such factors as race, socioeconomic class, citizenship, and ability? How are these lived experiences reflected in the scholarship of the field? Recommended background: one course on the study of gender and/or queer studies.