Trans*formative Ecologies

What might be opened, invited, and made possible by thinking trans and ecological together? Trans*formative Ecologies understands trans and environmental study as co-articulable collaborators speaking to and working with each other as endeavors that unstick the fixities that organize our sociopolitical landscape, interrogate systems of power, and daringly imagine otherwise with an openness to change amid a climate of multiple urgencies. This seminar introduces students to conversations in trans studies and decolonial environmental humanities through key texts in both fields, with consideration to subaltern theories and methodologies, cultural geography, literary studies, creative practice, and visual & aesthetic culture. These approaches contribute to and diverge from canonical feminist and queer theory, and renegotiate the anthropocentric, Western framework that often dominates dialogue pertaining to environmental study. Brought together, these fields collectively scrutinize dominant modes of thinking, conventional approaches, and methods of inquiry.