Module 2
As has been argued by many, the gender binary (man/woman) is both a product of and a motor for colonialism. Heterosexuality as the standard is pictured similarly. While for some reclaiming pre-colonial gender systems and/or sexualities is an important tool for decolonization, for others, not returning to a mythic past but toward a necessary present is their aim. With this in mind, western cinema has long been a pedagogical tool that not only teaches gender normativity but also colonial common sense (both in the “west” but around the world). How then to trans/queer people figure into the worlds of colonialism and nationalism is our central question in this unit.
Reading/ Watching/ Engagement
Coming soon.
Discussion
How does the concept of Mais Viva offer a professional space of self-fashioning for Black trans women in Brazil?
What is “common sense” and how is it produced and maintained in visual culture?
The destruction of indigenous languages continues to be a powerful tool in the project of colonial enclosure. How then might a trans reading of language help get us beyond the binary of colonial/ postcolonial speech, which still retains an anti-colonial ethos?
What is lost and what might be gained in the practice of translation?