“The Civic Life of Transgender Studies” examines issues of belonging, leadership, and citizenship in the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies. It proposes that transgender individuals have not only participated actively in discourses about their own lives, but have radically altered larger cultural discourses about gender, the body, political activism, and the LGBTIQ community. Placing transgender individuals and communities at the center of this course, we think about the personal and political necessity of civic and cultural engagement on the part of those who are often denied recognition by the gender-normative society in which they live. The course directs our attention to the local level as well as the national level, examining transgender lives and politics in bathrooms and courtrooms, poetry and public policy, stories and histories. The course will attempt to generate answers to some of the following questions: How can we cultivate a receptiveness to trans lives and trans claims? How do we understand the obligations of individuals, social, and political institutions to respond to the claims made by trans artists and activists? What is the position of students, staff, and faculty of William & Mary to responding to the call of its trans members and to trans expression in the Williamsburg, in Virginia, in the United States, and transnationally?
Civic leadership produces the capacity of mutual understanding in order to work together to address problems facing the community. In our current political moment, the meaning of transgender identity and belonging demands attention that moves away from polarizing politics and moralistic stances. This course is designed to interrogate how we can cultivate civic leadership through encounters with the complexity of living trans lives in a world that is only partially transformed by demands for trans inclusion and equality. This course is motivated by a need to centralize trans voices and experiences in discussions of citizenship, belonging, and community, and find places of engagement.