Trans Theory and Poetics - Detailseite

In a 2019 conversation with Emmett Harsin Drager, Andrea Long Chu provocatively and notoriously claimed that trans studies is over as it “has largely failed to establish a robust, compelling set of theories, methods, and concepts” and lacks direction. In this seminar, we will take seriously Long Chu’s challenge and ask what trans theory is or could be, what methods, if any, we can discern from its body of writing, and how it might distinguish itself from the interrelated and largely dominant discourse of queer theory. In our search for method, we will pay special attention to questions of reading. Does trans studies only occupy itself with the reading of ‘trans texts’ or can it offer a lens through which to approach any kind of cultural materials? What makes a text ‘trans’? Is there such a thing as a ‘trans poetics’?