Department of English

• Monday, October 29, 2018 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm

Penn LGBT Center, 3907 Spruce Street

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trans-literacy-project-teaching-feminist-queer-and-trans-theory-tickets-49442440671

PANELISTS

Heath Fogg Davis (Political Science, Temple University) - Heath Fogg Davis is an Associate Professor of Political Science who teaches courses on anti-discrimination law, democratic political theory, and the politics of race, gender, and sexuality. As a scholar, his research and publications probe the complex relationship between individual and collective identity in contexts such as family formation and adoption, public transportation, administrative and anti-discrimination law, and urban public space. As a community organizer and activist, he collaborates with and advocates for marginalized communities including transgender and gender nonconforming people, women, people of color, LGBQ people, and low-income people.

Jessa Lingel (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania) - Jessa Lingel is an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, where she studies digital culture, looking for the ways that relationships to technology can show us gaps in power or possibilities for social change. Lingel's research focuses on three key areas: Alterity and appropriation, and investigations of how information and technology is altered, tinkered with, subverted and articulated by marginalized groups; Politics of infrastructure, where systems of categorization, organization and design can reveal underlying ideologies and logics; and technological activism as a way of exploring how socio-technical practices can contribute to projects of social justice. In her activist work, Lingel concentrates on prison reform and abolition, libraries as vehicles for DIY education, and ending voter suppression.  

Melissa Sanchez (English, University of Pennsylvania) - Melissa Sanchez is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and teaching focus on feminism, queer theory, and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, and she is Core Faculty in Penn's Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program. 

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The inaugural workshop in the series brings together faculty in English, Communications, and Political Science to address dialogues and dissonances between feminist, queer and trans theory. In this workshop, graduate students and faculty will discuss strategies for designing syllabi that use texts from all three subfields to frame conversations about gender and sexuality across disciplines. Questions will include: how can trans literacy most effectively be a part of the feminist studies and queer studies classroom? How can texts from trans theory be incorporated into both cross-disciplinary and discipline-specific syllabi? What different approaches are there to sequencing and combining texts from feminist, queer and trans studies in the arc of a semester? What are some gender-inclusive approaches to teaching canonical, cis-normative texts from feminist and queer studies? This workshop will open with comments from each panelist, and leave lots of time for questions and discussion. Feel free to bring any questions you have, or to ask questions that occur during the event!

ABOUT THE TRANS LITERACY PROJECT

The Trans Literacy Project (TLP) at Penn is an exciting series of cross-discipline, cross-community conversations designed to advance trans literacy across and beyond the university. TLP workshops and expert panels feature the powerful insights of nonbinary, trans, and gender nonconforming activists, academics, teachers, learners, and leaders. Offering relevant resources for activists and allies both experienced and new, the series strengthens our collective capacity for generating pedagogical and public spaces of trans literacy and liberation. This series is free and open to the public. For more information on the Trans Literacy Project, please visit: https://transliteracyproject.wordpress.com/