A Trans History of the United States

This course explores the diversity of gendered experiences across the history of the United States with an emphasis on the individuals, communities, and movements that have been interpreted as trans. The course has three goals: 1) to offer an in-depth survey of the history of trans and gender nonconforming experiences across the history of the United States; 2) to critically explore the emergence of “transgender” as a social, medical, and historical category, with attention to its assumptions and exclusions; 3) to provide experience with critical interpretation of primary sources documenting gendered lives in the past. Key historical themes include experiences of trans/gender in relation to race and colonialism, labor, migration, medicine, kinship and sexuality, legal and carceral systems, activism, performance, media, and technology. Key historiographical themes include: changing interpretations of gender/sexuality by successive generations of historians, identities such as “trans” as both categories of analysis and objects of historical inquiry themselves, the challenges presented by sources that overlook, misrepresent, or obscure gendered subjectivity, and the political stakes of trans history during times of backlash and hostility towards trans communities. Course meetings include discussion of secondary readings and analysis of primary sources, and in-class activities and assignments emphasize developing skills to identify, analyze, and use a wide range of sources to understand shifting frameworks of gender throughout US history. No prerequisites necessary.