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Getting Disciplined: What's Trans* About Queer Studies Now?
1Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan USA.
Journal of Homosexuality
|October 23, 2018
Summary
Trans* studies may face challenges when integrated into queer and women's studies programs. Professionalization of these fields can lead to trans* studies being marginalized, despite its critical insights.
Area of Science:
- Gender Studies
- Sociology
- Cultural Studies
Background:
- Queer studies and women's studies have professionalized significantly over the last two decades.
- This professionalization has created new forms of disciplinary power within academic departments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the epistemological challenges trans* studies encounters during its integration into queer studies programs.
- To examine how the professionalization of queer and women's studies impacts the reception of trans* studies.
Main Methods:
- Epistemological analysis of academic disciplinary integration.
- Critical discourse analysis of academic professionalization trends.
Main Results:
- Trans* studies may be incorporated superficially, cited without full acknowledgment of its unique contributions.
- The professionalization of adjacent fields can result in trans* studies being perceived as an obstacle or a deviation from established norms.
Conclusions:
- Trans* studies risks being epistemologically marginalized within professionalized queer and women's studies.
- Academic structures may inadvertently discipline or silence the distinct material and political investments of trans* studies.