Trans Studies in Higher Education Syllabus
Trans Studies in Higher Education Syllabus
Trans Studies in Higher Education Syllabus
Syllabus Origins
Lately, I have become conscious of just how often I and other trans* people are asked by
cisgender people some iteration of the following question: how can I do better/learn more about
trans* issues in higher education? This question, and the foundational assumptions at its core,
bother me for two interrelated reasons, namely that:
1. trans* people must continue to do unpaid labor to define and explain our existence,
needs, and importance to a cisgender audience that continues to eschew their own
responsibility for active learning and engagement; and
2. trans* people/scholars have not already been answering this question through our
research and (non-)scholarly contributions.
Put another way, cisgender people continuing to ask me and other trans* people this question
is, at its best, a manifestation of cisgender privilege. At worst, it makes clear the complete
sense of disinterest cisgender people have in using the research, resources, and literature
trans* people and our accomplices have already given our lives to producing. Whats more, this
lack of engagement and lack of investment is often couched in the language of wanting to do
better, and having an ongoing investment in equity and diversity. The non-performative
nature of these statements is profound, particularly when it comes from people, organizations,
and institutions that have only begun to think about trans* people when forced to do so through
resistance, draconian laws, and/or other measures.
Because I and other trans* people are tired of answering this question, I have generated the
Trans* Studies in Higher Education Syllabus. Whilst I understand the potential irony of doing so
(this syllabus could very well be seen as a comprehensive answer to a decidedly problematic
and oppressive question), I have begun this syllabus as an act of resistance for and alongside
my trans* kin and our accomplices. I also sincerely hope people will use the syllabus, and this
will reduce the amount of cisgender people who feel the need to ask what they can do to learn
about trans* populations, as if: (1) we havent always already been in your midst; (2) empirical,
affirmative-based research has not existed for quite some time; and (3) cisgender people should
not take it upon themselves to answer their own question rather than requiring trans* people to
do the (additional unpaid) labor for them.
Weekly Readings
Week 1: Starting with Definitions
BCRW Videos. (2014, March 31). CeCe McDonald, Reina Gossett, and Dean Spade: Police +
Prisons Dont Keep Us Safe - We Keep Each Other Safe [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://vimeo.com/90554286.
Gossett, C. (2014). We will not rest in peace: AIDS activism, Black radicalism, and queer
and/or trans resistance. In J. Haritaworn, A. Kuntsman, & S. Posocco (Eds.), Queer
necropolitics (pp. 31-50). New York, NY: Routledge.
Grace. (2015, May 5). Touch one another - talk by Reina Gossett and Grace Dunham.
Retrieved from http://www.reinagossett.com/touch-one-another/.
Patton, L. D. (2014). Preserving respectability or blatant disrespect?: A critical discourse
analysis of the Morehouse Appropriate Attire Policy and implications for intersectional
approaches to examining campus policies. International Journal of Qualitative Studies
in Education, 27(6), 724-746.
Snorton, C. R. (2017). Black on both sides: A racial history of trans identity. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
Stewart, D-L. (2015). Black queer (re)presentation in (white) academe. In F. A. Bonner II, a. f.
marbley, F. Tuitt, P. A. Robinson, R. M. Banda, & R. L. Hughes (Eds.), B lack faculty in
the academy: Narratives for negotiating identity and achieving career success (pp.
89-101). New York, NY: Routledge.
UChicago LGBTQ Student Life. (2014, October 17). L GBTQ Student Life | A Trans Revolution
| CeCe McDonald [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU1wGGvJXNc.
Also see:
The complete issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 3(1/2).
Bailey, V. (2014). Brown bois. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 1(1/2), 4547.
Brown Boi Project. (2012). Toward healthy and whole: Rethinking gender and transformation
for bois of color. Oakland, CA: Author.
Catalano, D. C. J. (2015). "Trans enough?": The pressures trans men negotiate in higher
education. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2(3), 411-430.
Catalano, D. C. J. (2015). Beyond virtual equality: Liberatory consciousness as a path to
achieve trans* inclusion in higher education. E quity & Excellence in Education, 48(3),
418435.
Jourian, T.J. (2017). Trans*forming college masculinities: Carving out trans*masculine
pathways through the threshold of dominance. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 30(3), 245-265.
Pusch, R. S. (2005). Objects of curiosity: Transgender college students perceptions of the
reactions of others. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, 3(1), 4561.
Bilodeau, B. (2005). Beyond the gender binary: A case study of two transgender students at
Midwestern research university. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, 3(1),
2944.
Mattilda. (Ed.). (2006). Nobody passes: Rejecting the rules of gender and conformity.
Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.
Stewart, D-L. (2017). Trans*versing the DMZ: A non-binary autoethnographic exploration of
gender and masculinity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30( 3),
285-304.
Nicolazzo, Z. (2016). Its a hard line to walk: Black non-binary trans* collegians perspectives
on passing, realness, and trans*-normativity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies
in Education, 29(9), 1173-1188.
Bilge, S. (2016). Theoretical coalitions and multi-issue activism: Our struggles will be
intersectional or they will be bullshit. In S. Bakshi, S. Jivraj, & S. Posocco (Eds.),
Decolonizing sexualities: Transnational perspectives, critical interventions ( pp.
108-122). London, UK: Counterpress.
Duran, A., & Nicolazzo, Z. (2017). Exploring the ways trans* collegians navigate academic,
romantic, and social relationships. Journal of College Student Development, 58(4),
526-544.
Marine, S. B. (2011b). Stonewalls legacy: Bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender students in
higher education. ASHE Higher Education Report, 37(4).
Marine, S. B. & Nicolazzo, Z. (2014). Names that matter: Exploring the complexities of the
experiences of trans* individuals in LGBTQ centers. J ournal of Diversity in Higher
Education, 7(4), 265-281.
Nicolazzo, Z, & Marine, S. B. (2015). It will change if people keep talking: Trans* students in
college and university housing. Journal of College and University Student Housing,
42(1), 160-177.
Nicolazzo, Z, Pitcher, E., Renn, K., & Woodford, M. (2017). An exploration of trans* kinship as
a strategy for student success. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,
30(3), 305-319.
Pryor, J. T. (2015). Out in the classroom: Transgender student experiences at a large public
university. Journal of College Student Development, 56(5), 440-456.
rad fag. (2017). Happening now: Trans-led coalition shuts down Chicago pride parade.
Radical Faggot. Retrieved from
https://radfag.com/2017/06/25/happening-now-trans-led-coalition-shuts-down-chicago-p
ride-parade/.
Cantor, D., Fisher, B., Chibnall, S., Townsend, R., Lee, H., Bruce, C., & Thomas, G. (2015).
Report on the AAU campus climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Association of American Universities. Retrieved from
https://www.aau.edu/key-issues/aau-climate-survey-sexual-assault-and-sexual-miscond
uct-2015.
Marine, S. B. (2017). For Brandon, for justice: Naming and ending sexual violence against
trans* college students. In J.C. Harris & C. Linder (Eds.), I ntersections of identity and
sexual violence on campus: Centering minoritized students experiences (pp. 83-100).
Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Marine, S. B., & Nicolazzo, Z. (In press). Campus sexual violence prevention educators' use
of gender in their work: A critical exploration. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
New, J. (2015, September 25). The invisible one in four. I nside Higher Ed. Retrieved from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/25/1-4-transgender-students-say-they-h
ave-been-sexually-assaulted-survey-finds.
Tillapaugh, D. (2017). The wounds of our experience: College men who experienced sexual
violence. In J.C. Harris & C. Linder (Eds.), Intersections of identity and sexual violence
on campus: Centering minoritized students experiences (pp. 101-118). Sterling, VA:
Stylus.
Tillapaugh, D. (2016). Resisting erasure: Critical influences for men who survived sexual
violence in higher education. Social Alternatives, 35(3), 11-17.
Forbes, K. (2012). "Do these earrings make me look dumb?": Diversity, privilege, and
heteronormative perceptions of competence in the academy. In A. Enke (Ed.),
Transfeminist perspectives in and beyond transgender and gender studies (pp. 34-44).
Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Jourian, T.J., Simmons, S. L., & Devaney, K. (2015). "We are not expected": Trans* educators
(re)claiming space and voice in higher education and student affairs. T SQ: Transgender
Studies Quarterly, 2(3), 431-446.
McKinnon, R. (2012). On the market as a transgender candidate. T he Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/On-the-Job-Market-as-a/133958/.
miller, s.j. (2016). (Un)becoming trans*: Every breath you take and every In s.j. miller & N.
M. Rodriguez (Eds.), Educators queering academia: Critical memoirs (pp. 103-112).
New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Pitcher, E. N. (2017). Theres stuff that comes with being an unexpected guest: Experiences
of trans* academics with microaggressions. International Journal of Qualitative Studies
in Education, 30(7), 688-703.
Pitcher, E. N. (2016). Undone and (mis)recognized: Disorienting experiences of a queer,
trans* educator. In s.j. miller & N. M. Rodriguez (Eds.), Educators queering academia:
Critical memoirs (pp. 137-144). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Simmons, S. L. (2017). A thousand words are worth a picture: A snapshot of trans*
postsecondary educators in higher education. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 30(3), 266-284.
Butler, J. (2006). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York, NY: Routledge.
Catalano, D. C. J., & Griffin, P. (2016). Sexism, heterosexism, and trans* oppression: An
integrated perspective. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, D. J. Goodman, & K. Y. Joshi (Eds.),
Teaching for diversity and social justice (3rd ed.). (pp. 183211). New York,
NY: Routledge.
Edelman, E. A. (2014). Walking while transgender: Necropolitical regulations of trans
feminine bodies of colour in the nations capital. In J. Haritaworn, A. Kuntsman, & S.
Posocco (Eds.), Queer necropolitics (pp. 172-190). New York, NY: Routledge.
Jaekel, K. (2016). What is normal, true, and right: A critical discourse analysis of students'
written resistance strategies on LGBTQ topics. I nternational Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 29(6), 845-859.
Marine, S. B. (2017). Changing the frame: Queering access to higher education for trans*
students. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(3), 217-233.
Marine, S. B. (2009). Navigating discourses of discomfort: Womens college student affairs
administrators and transgender students. Dissertation Abstracts International, 70(2),
UMI 3349517.
Namaste, V. K. (2006). Genderbashing: Sexuality, gender, and the regulation of public space.
In S. Stryker & S. Whittle (Eds.), The transgender studies reader (pp. 584600). New
York, NY: Routledge.
Nicolazzo, Z. (2017). Trans* in college: Transgender students strategies for navigating
campus life and the institutional politics of inclusion. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Preciado, P. B. (2013). Testo junkie: Sex, drugs, and biopolitics in the pharmocopornographic
era. New York, NY: Feminist Press.
Seelman, K. L. (2014). Recommendations of transgender students, staff, and faculty in the
USA for improving college campuses. Gender & Education, 26(6), 618-635.
Seelman, K. L. (2014). Transgender individuals' access to college housing and bathrooms:
Findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Journal of Gay and
Lesbian Social Services, 26(2), 186-206.
Spade, D. (2000). Mutilating gender. Make Zine. Retrieved from
http://www.makezine.enoughenough.org/mutilate.html.
Week 12: The Need for Prison Abolition
Gares, J. (Director & Producer). (2016). Free CeCe! [Motion picture]. USA: Jac Gares Media,
Inc.
Grant, J. M., Mottet, L. A., Tanis, J., Harrison, J., Herman, J. L., & Keisling, M. (2011).
Injustice at every turn: A report of the national transgender discrimination survey.
Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force.
Mogul, J. L., Ritchie, A. J., & Whitlock, K. (2012). Q ueer (in)justice: The criminalization of
LGBT people in the United States. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Stanley, E. A., & Smith, N. (2015). Captive genders: Trans embodiment and the prison
industrial complex (2nd ed.). Chino, CA: AK Press.
Sylvia Rivera Law Project. (2007). Its war in here: A report on the treatment of transgender
and intersex people in New York state mens prisons. New York, NY: Sylvia Rivera Law
Project.
Catalano, D. C. J. (2017). Resisting coherence: Trans mens experiences and the use of
grounded theory methods. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,
30(3), 234-244.
Green, K. M. (2016). Troubling the waters: Mobilizing a trans* analytic. In E. P. Johnson (Ed.),
No tea, no shade: New writings in black queer studies (pp. 65-82). Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
Jourian, T.J. & Nicolazzo, Z. (2016). Bringing our communities to the research table: The
liberatory potential of collaborative methodological practices. E ducational Action
Research. Advanced online publication. DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2016.1203343.
Nicolazzo, Z. (2014). Identity as inquiry: Living and researching from the borderlands. In R. N.
Brown, R. Carducci, & C. R. Kuby (Eds.), Disruptive qualitative inquiry: Possibilities and
tensions in education research (pp. 205-226). New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.
Renn, K. A. (2010). LGBT and queer research in higher education: The state and status of the
field. Educational Researcher, 39(2), 132-141.
Against Equality
Audre Lorde Project
Black and Pink
Brown Boi Project
Chicago BTGNC Collective
FIERCE
Gender JUST
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
TGI Justice Project
TransLatin@ Coalition
Transgender Education Network of Texas
Transgender Law Center
Trans Oral History Project
Trans Tech Social Enterprises
TransWomen of Color Collective
Week 15: Trans* and Gender Non-Conforming Artists, Activists, and Authors
Corey Alexander
Joshua Allen
Star Amerasu
Ryka Aoki
Kay Ulanday Barrett
Micah Bazant
b. binaohan
Justin Vivian Bond
Mickyel Micky Bradford
Precious Brady-Davis
Laverne Cox
Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi
Big Freedia
Che Gossett
Reina Gossett
Laura Jane Grace
Jennicet Gutirrez
Tobi Hill-Meyer
Lourdes Ashley Hunter
KOKUMO
Saby Labor
Jamal Lewis
Miss Major
J Mase III
CeCe McDonald
Luna Merbruja
Tiq Milan
Janet Mock
Isa Noyola
Morgan M. Page
Jack Quemi
Jen Richards
Angelica Ross
Mey Rude
Bamby Salcedo
Venus DiKhadijah Selenite
Julia Serano
J. Skyler
Mattilda B. Sycamore
Mya Taylor
Kai Cheng Thom
Jos Truitt
Alok Vaid-Menon
Kiyan Williams
Raquel Willis
Kortney Ryan Ziegler
Lger, T., & MacLeod, R. (Eds.). (2012). The collection: Short fiction from the transgender
vanguard. New York, NY: Topside Press.
The complete issue of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30( 3).
The complete issue of Radical Teacher, 92.
The complete issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2(3).
Stryker, S., & Aizura, A. Z. (Eds.). (2013). The transgender studies reader 2. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Stryker, S., & Whittle, S. (Eds.). (2006). The transgender studies reader. New York, NY:
Routledge.