Women,Gender,Sexuality Studies 297TC - ST-Intro/Trans* Studies

This course introduces the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies. While the history of gender-variant identities in America far precedes that of the United States of America, and while gender diversity is and has been prevalent in most global societies, "transgender" is a recent social category and phenomenon. Many academic disciplines--including anthropology, history, gender studies, psychology and gay and lesbian/queer studies--have studied transgender identities, bodies and communities, but only very recently has the field become institutionalized in the academy as the discipline "Transgender Studies." In this course we examine the ongoing development of the concept of transgender as it is situated across social, cultural, historical, legal, medical, and political contexts. Just as the discipline is interdisciplinary, so is our approach to it. We will engage with and critically discuss texts from the fields of legal studies, history, English, science, medicine, sociology, anthropology, ethnography and feminist studies in our quest to answer some fundamental questions: What is transgender studies and how does it differ from other forms of scholarship within gender, queer and sexuality studies? What are the key questions and debates within the field? How is the concept of transgender ?remapping? the relationship among biological sex, gender, and sexuality, as well as reshaping the meanings of these categories? How does transgender politics compare or contrast to feminist politics, queer politics, and anti-racist politics? Is the term "transgender" applicable to non-Western and previously occurring embodiments and practices? As students immerse themselves in this course, they will consider the broad range of identities the category of transgender describes, the global political movement it has become, and how the community it embraces has emerged into visibility, popular discourse and the academy since the 1990s.