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Hi everyone,

Please see below the panel we will be proposing as an invited session for
the AAA Chicago 2013. We would appreciate if you could widely circulate it.

*Transing Occlusion: Trans Lives in Non-Euro-North American Geographies*

* *

Panel Proposal for the AAA 2013, Chicago November 20-24

Organizers: Asli Zengin, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto and Faris A.
Khan, PhD Candidate, Syracuse University



Anthropological work on transgenderism has expanded incrementally since the
emergence of transgender studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
paralleling the rise of queer studies. Within the existing body of work,
the material conditions and representational practices of trans people have
been widely examined. By focusing on themes such as cross-cultural and
historical analyses of sexed embodiment and human gender diversity,
subjective experiences of gender identity, medico-legal practices
regulating gender expression and transsexuality, these studies have
investigated the assumed relations between sex, gender, biology and
culture. They have also developed critical and attentive approaches to
different forms of trans existence, including cross-dressing,
transsexuality, transvestitism, MTF or FTM transitioning, etc.

Yet, in as much as trans issues have remained marginal within anthropology,
ethnographic research on trans issues also has its shortcomings given the
dearth of anthropological work on non-Euro-North American trans communities
and selves, whether in native locales or diasporic zones. With the
exception of a few well-known studies (Nanda 1990; Johnson 1997; Prieur
1998; Kulick 1998; Reddy 2005) the literature is generally
northern/western-centric, and further scholarly attention is needed to
cultivate a more attuned approach to differences in race, ethnicity,
religion, class and location among trans people across cultures and
societies. In light of this gap in scholarship, the presentations on our
panel intend to contribute to discussions on trans politics, embodiment,
selves, and communities in localized contexts. To this end, we ask the
following questions: How do science, technology, religion, culture, and
society shape trans experience in non-Euro-North American contexts? How do
medico-legal regulations and language configure transsexualism in various
local contexts, and what kinds of consequences do these developments bring
to trans people’s lives? How does violence operate through and shape trans
subjectivities and existences, and what forms does violence take? How do
nation-states intervene and shape trans people’s lives? How and to what
extent do transnational flows of capital, images, and knowledge impact
trans identities, livelihood, and activism in these local contexts? How do
trans people respond to these processes in their ordinary and political
lives? What are the conditions for trans politics, and what kinds of
political claims and imaginations are at stake? What kinds of trans
subcultures and embodiments can we talk about?

            While these questions are essential, studying trans issues can
be complicated given the degree of exclusion, discrimination and stigma
that trans people face in their everyday lives. It often involves problems
associated with secrecy, suspicion, lack of trust and a complex and
negotiated relationship between researcher positionality and trans
informants. This panel also explores these questions, along with the
methodological and ethical concerns that emerge from studying precarious
trans lives in non-Euro-North American cultures.

 Please submit 250-word abstracts to Asli Zengin at
[log in to unmask] and Faris A. Khan at
*[log in to unmask]*no later than February 24, 2013

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Asli Zengin



-- 
a.z.

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