CONGRESS CANCELED Race and Transgender in the Global Middle Ages

Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Description

Etymologically, the word "transgender" signifies living across, between, and beyond the genus of a category. While the word has modern Euro-American origins, the critical praxis and habitus of trans-ing gender lives in premodern rhizomatic roots stretching around the world. At the same time that Eleanor Rykener was being interrogated by the courts of medieval London, trans people constituted their lives under the light of other systems of law, culture, religion, and calendars. What does transgender mean and look like in non-Modern, non-European, non-Christian contexts? This panel seeks to decolonize the racial and religious biases that have limited the study of medieval gender. The papers in the panel seek to challenge not only the definitions of transgender but also the definitions of the Middle Ages. As we reorient the future of the past, let's invest in the wider work of global liberation, equity, and justice. Gabrielle Bychowski

 
May 10th, 10:30 AM

CONGRESS CANCELED Race and Transgender in the Global Middle Ages

Fetzer 1045

Etymologically, the word "transgender" signifies living across, between, and beyond the genus of a category. While the word has modern Euro-American origins, the critical praxis and habitus of trans-ing gender lives in premodern rhizomatic roots stretching around the world. At the same time that Eleanor Rykener was being interrogated by the courts of medieval London, trans people constituted their lives under the light of other systems of law, culture, religion, and calendars. What does transgender mean and look like in non-Modern, non-European, non-Christian contexts? This panel seeks to decolonize the racial and religious biases that have limited the study of medieval gender. The papers in the panel seek to challenge not only the definitions of transgender but also the definitions of the Middle Ages. As we reorient the future of the past, let's invest in the wider work of global liberation, equity, and justice. Gabrielle Bychowski