TSQ 2.3

CALL FOR PAPERS

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 2.3

Special issue on Trans*Formational Pedagogies

Francisco Galarte, Susan Marine, and Z Nicolazzo, guest editors

This issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly takes up matters of “schooling,” “learning” and “pedagogy.” Paulo Freire declared that education should be a “practice of freedom," one that enables individuals to "deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” All too often, however, formal educational practices foster conformity, deter necessary transgressions, and systemically seek to regulate rather than radicalize. This is particularly true with regard to “genderism,” a concept coined by Rikki Wilchins and popularized in LGBT educational studies by Brent Bilodeau, (Wilchins 2002; Bilodeau 2005, 2009), which refers to the systematic oppression of gender diversity by a rigid gender binary. We contend that formal education typically enacts genderism; with this special issue, "Trans*Formational Pedagogies," we seek to reinvigorate ongoing conversations about education as a practice of freedom by exploring ways in which educational processes can specifically challenge the oppressive aspects of the binary gender system. We seek to publish work that critically interrogates, (re)invents and/or disrupts practices and policies in various educational environments that amplify or silence various forms of trans* expression and embodiment.

We invite submissions of scholarly essays that explore these and similar issues on the relationship between education and genderism, broadly construed. Potential topics might include:

  • effects of and challenges to gender segregation policies in school facilities, such as organizations, athletics, social lives, and classroom instruction;
  • pedagogical methods that invite, allow, deter or ban expansive forms of gender identity and expression;
  • issues related to biculturalism, bilingualism and multilingualism in relationship to pedagogy;
  • intersections between Critical Race Theories of education and transgender studies;
  • transformative praxis-oriented projects that do not occur in “traditional” educational settings;
  • public pedagogy that includes but is not limited to the arts, music, and/or other forms of cultural production;
  • embodied pedagogy or embodied technologies of the body or pedagogies of the flesh;
  • the history of schooling and how historical narratives serve to foreground or erase trans* students, faculty, and staff;
  • policies and practices surrounding bullying and harassment directed at trans* youth;
  • presence or absence of trans* identified educators at all levels of education;
  • teaching and researching while trans;
  • higher education practices that support or deter trans* student identity development;
  • the re/de/construction of the future landscape of education on an inter/national scale;
  • public education under neoliberalism;
  • education and schooling as technologies of colonialism that enforce colonial regimes of gender norms;
  • schools as sites of not only discipline but criminalization, especially for gender non-conforming youth of color;
  • personal accounts of initiating educational practices focused on the practice of freedom of gender.

Priority will be given to work that proposes new ways of envisioning and enacting trans* formational pedagogical practice, educational policy, and politics, and that explicitly foregrounds intersectional thinking about social transformation. To this end, it is strongly suggested that authors draw from critical, anti-racist, feminist, trans and queer theories and perspectives to ground their work, whether it be theoretical and/or empirical.  

Individuals with subordinated racial identities, trans* people, women, people who are intersex or have DSDs, people who have lived or are living in poverty, people with disabilities, immigrants, indigenous people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people are strongly encouraged to submit. We encourage contributions from educators, scholars, and activists. Additionally, while the focus of the issue is scholarly manuscripts, we also hope to include a small selection of shorter, less formal essays that engage with critical issues in trans* education from practitioners, including current teachers and pre-service teachers, higher education faculty, youth program staff, and others.  

To be considered, please send a full length submission by July 15, 2014 to tsqjournal@gmail.com along with a short abstract and brief bio including name, postal address, and any institutional affiliation. The expected range for scholarly articles is 5000 to 7000 words, and 1000 to 2000 words for shorter critical essays and descriptive accounts. Illustrations should be included with both completed submissions and abstracts. Any questions should be addressed by e-mail sent to the guest editors for the issue: Francisco Galarte (galarte@email.arizona.edu), Susan Marine (marines@merrimack.edu), and Z Nicolazzo (nicolazd@miamioh.edu).

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly is a new journal, edited by Paisley Currah and Susan Stryker to be published by Duke University Press. TSQ aims to be the journal of record for the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies and to promote the widest possible range of perspectives on transgender phenomena broadly defined. Every issue of TSQ will be a specially themed issue that also contains regularly recurring features such as reviews, interviews, and opinion pieces. To learn more about the journal and see calls for papers for other special issues, visit  http://lgbt.arizona.edu/tsq-main  For information about subscriptions, visithttp://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=45648.