Trans Studies: Cultures and Communities

This subject charts the emergence of transgender studies, situating gender and sex in conceptual frameworks that have contributed to the development of this dynamic academic field. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we will ask questions such as: What does the term ‘trans’ mean? Is it an identity, a methodology, or both? How has the development of trans studies reconceptualised feminist and queer understandings of gender, sex, and power? Throughout the subject, we will examine a wide range of issues related to trans and non-binary subjectivities, including representation, recognition, pathologisation, and visibility, and will analyse how gender is controlled, confined, and policed by structural institutions (e.g., the legal system, the medical establishment, the prison industrial complex).