Enacting Transbutch: Queer Narratives Beyond Essentialism

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dc.contributorHwang, Ren-Yo
dc.contributorAce, Samuel
dc.contributor.advisorLuce, Jacquelyne
dc.contributor.authorCavar, Sarah Lynn
dc.date.accessioned2020-05-07T13:02:49Z
dc.date.available2020-05-07T13:02:49Z
dc.date.gradyear2020en_US
dc.date.issued2020-05-07
dc.description.abstractWhat, how, and who is transbutch? In this thesis, I examine memoirs and personal essays that define and defy boundaries between “butch" and “transmasculine" subjectivity –– and investigate my own queer experience in the process –– in order to counter the myth of an irreparable trans/butch divide. Deemed by some to be “border wars,” conflicts between transness and butchness are emblematic of the contested (hi)stories on which the identities are founded: namely, white supremacy, colonialism, transmedicalism, and lesbian separatism/trans-exclusionary radical feminism. Ensuing identity-battles –– which have increased with increased access to biomedical transition –– rely on a teleological approach to identity, and, I argue, may only be ameliorated by prioritizing experiential multiplicity and political affinity over fixed, essential truth. Through engagement with a variety of personal narratives by authors such as S. Bear Bergman, Ivan Coyote, Rae Spoon, and blogger MainelyButch, I counter the understanding of identity as intrinsic and immutable, showing instead the dynamism of transbutch life, its stretchiness as a personal and community signifier, and its constant re-definition by its occupants.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipCritical Social Thoughten_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/5968
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.restrictedpublicen_US
dc.subjecttrans studiesen_US
dc.subjectqueer theoryen_US
dc.subjectLGBTQen_US
dc.subjecttransfeminismen_US
dc.subjecttransgenderen_US
dc.subjectgenderqueeren_US
dc.subjectbutchen_US
dc.subjectlesbian historyen_US
dc.subjecttrans historyen_US
dc.subjectmemoiren_US
dc.subjectautobiographyen_US
dc.subjectidentityen_US
dc.subjectsexualityen_US
dc.subjectnarrative studiesen_US
dc.subjectessentialismen_US
dc.titleEnacting Transbutch: Queer Narratives Beyond Essentialismen_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

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