HIST-LIT 90GH: Global Transgender Histories
HL90: Global Transgender Histories
Fall 2024, Harvard University
Thursdays, 9:45–11:45am
Registration
How to register: If you are interested in this course, please petition directly on my.harvard. In your petition, say a few words about your interest in the course (including concentrations you are considering if you are undeclared), any requirement the course may satisfy, and whether you have taken any other History & Literature seminars.
After your petition is approved, you must return to my.harvard to enroll! If you have any questions, please email me at jriegel@fas.harvard.edu.
Course Description
This course takes an expansive, global approach to transgender history. Students will examine the lives of ancient and medieval people who crossed boundaries of sex and gender; consider the historical overlaps between cross-dressing, queer sexuality, and gender non-conformity; and discover the history of trans activism, both in the U.S. and globally. Students will become familiar with some of the global vocabulary of gender identities beyond the binary and will understand the historical impacts of phenomena such as racism, imperialism, and medicalization on gender identities, particularly since the nineteenth century. In the process, we will consider what it means to study trans history: where can we find trans people in the past? How do we know, and what terms should we use when we talk about them? What are our methodological and ethical obligations to historical trans people and communities? Through religious texts, poetry, art, legal cases, travelogues, newspapers, films, documentaries, and oral histories, we will discover the diverse historical lives of gender-variant people around the world. We will seek to deepen our understanding of the historical and cultural contexts in which these people lived, and to uncover the impacts of trans history in our world today.
Professor:
Jules Riegel || they/them || jriegel@fas.harvard.edu
How to contact me:
- Email (jriegel@fas.harvard.edu). I answer emails within 24-48 hours.
- Office hours: Wednesdays, 12:30–2:30 pm, Barker 047
- Zoom: send me an email to set up an appointment on Zoom.
Course Policies
[Important note: this syllabus may be subject to change. I will give you reasonable warning of any changes that occur.]
Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify, understand, and use a basic global vocabulary of gender and gender identity, with close attention to historical and cultural context;
- Identify, analyze, and interpret relevant historical and cultural primary sources from multiple eras and contexts;
- Think critically about gender and gender identity as a way of understanding the world;
- Understand and apply the methodologies of transgender history;
- Examine the impact and legacies of the global transgender past on the world today.
A note on language, terminology, and content
The field of trans history is very new. For the most part, except for primary sources, we will be reading scholarship from the last thirty years. For a field of historical study, this is not a long time at all. Nonetheless, as will become clear immediately, the language and terminology that both scholars and their subjects use when talking about sex, gender, bodies, and sexuality has changed extremely rapidly. Because of this, we will encounter terminology that may seem grievously outdated, including terms (“berdache” or “transvestite,” for instance) that are offensive in some or many contexts today.
I acknowledge that language and the terminology we use is very important, and that the wrong language can be actively harmful. At the same time, we must keep in mind that terms and concepts that might seem natural to us—even basic terms like “gender” and “sexuality”—did not mean the same thing in the past or simply did not exist as such. We should always be cautious about imposing our ways of thinking and categorizing on the past.
In this course, I want you to be prepared to encounter language and concepts that you may find confusing, offensive, or even upsetting. We will be encountering historical figures whose ways of speaking about themselves may seem baffling to us, and scholars whose ways of writing about those figures may seem outdated or even wrongheaded. I ask that we all seek to exercise patience and grace when considering the trans past, to approach figures from that past (as much as possible) on their own terms, and to accept that the ways we speak about them may never be complete or perfect. Instead, let us welcome imperfection as part of the learning process, and allow the realities of trans history to be as they are: unexpected, messy, and profoundly human.
By the same token, I ask that we be respectful and generous in our treatment of each other. I expect that we all come this class ready to listen and to have our assumptions challenged; moreover, I expect that we enter into discussions in good faith and that we presume good faith in each other. To foster a healthy and collaborative classroom environment, we must make space both for the discomfort that learning sometimes brings and for our own feelings of safety. In light of this, if a classmate chooses to disclose personal information in a class discussion, please do not repeat that information outside of this classroom without explicit permission. Additionally, due to the specific topic of this class, our discussions may be extremely personal for you, which can heighten any feelings of discomfort, anxiety, or distress that you may experience. I want you to be aware of this and to consider how best you can take care of yourself. As always, if you have any concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Attendance, participation, and class culture
Attendance is required. Our classroom will be a space for intellectual conversation, debate, and questioning, so your active participation and engagement with the material is imperative. If you are quieter by nature, please come speak to me in office hours so we can discuss strategies for your participation. If you cannot attend a class meeting due to illness or emergency, please contact me.
I understand that work-life balance is often a challenge. I hope that this class, as a collaborative space of learning, can offer a sense of respite and stability. If outside issues begin to affect your performance in this course, please let me know so that I can connect you with available resources and support.
Names and pronouns
Your name and pronouns will be respected by everyone in class. I will default to the pronouns you have selected on my.harvard, but if you have other preferences please let me know. Please address your fellow students directly by name or “you” when responding to a point made by your classmates, with whom you are in conversation during our discussions.
I use they/them pronouns. I encourage you to address me as "Dr. Riegel" (pronounced REE-gull) or "Dr. Jules."
Printing and screens
While many of our course readings are PDFs or other digital formats, please try to bring hard copies to class; it is to your advantage as a reader to fully annotate and mark up readings, so try to limit screens in the classroom. Since most of our class time will be spent in discussion, I encourage you to think of class as a space to generate questions and conversation, rather than notes.
If you are reading in class from a screen, please close all other tabs and windows not directly relevant to our discussion (e.g., PDF reader and notes app). It is not appropriate to use phones during discussion. If you simply cannot wait to answer a message or call, please step into the hallway to do so.
Deadlines and extensions
Everyone will start with 3 "grace days" to be used at your discretion. You need not ask for an extension, but rather use these days as necessary. Your 3 days may be used in any permutation (e.g. 1 day on the first, 2 days for the second), but once you have used all three, no more will be granted, so plan accordingly. After all days are used, papers will be deducted a step for each late day (an A becomes an A–, etc.).
Students who must miss class assignment due dates due to religious observation or family, personal, or medical emergencies should contact the instructor as soon as possible before the due date.
Collaboration and plagiarism
Collaboration is welcome and encouraged within the seminar format of our class. You may find it helpful to consult with your peers about readings or paper ideas, and our class will also provide opportunities to work collaboratively on presentations and peer editing. However, all written work submitted for evaluation should be the product of your own thought, research, and writing. Accordingly, you must properly cite any engagement with other authors. In accordance with the Honor Code, plagiarism is a serious offense and must be reported to the Honor Council. I expect that you familiarize yourself with the Harvard Guide to Using Sources; if you have further questions or are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, come speak with me during office hours.
Academic integrity and AI policy
Writing in History & Literature involves building on the ideas of other writers and thinkers, contributing ideas of your own, and signaling clearly for readers where each idea comes from. In addition to acknowledging how other writers have contributed to your work, doing your work with integrity also consists of developing ideas that are wholly, genuinely, and uniquely yours. Your writing should reflect your thinking, shaped by your own efforts to clarify and articulate your understanding. This development is at the heart of academic writing: articulating and working through early ideas will lead to more complex understandings and analysis as you draft and revise your work. Writing is thinking; there are no shortcuts.
All writing you submit in History & Literature courses must be your own. You may use Generative AI programs (e.g. ChatGPT) to help generate ideas and brainstorm. However, you should remember that the material generated by these programs may be inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise problematic. Beware that use may also stifle your own independent thinking and creativity.
When using AI tools on assignments, you must add an appendix showing:
- The entire exchange – all of your prompts as well as all generative AI outputs – with underlining of the sections that most influenced your thinking
- A description of which AI tools you used (e.g. ChatGPT private subscription version or DALL-E free version)
- An explanation of how you used the AI tools (e.g. to generate ideas, turns of phrase, elements of text, lines of argument, pieces of evidence, maps of conceptual territory, illustrations of key concepts, etc.)
- An account of why you used AI tools (e.g. to save time, to surmount writer’s block, to stimulate thinking, to handle mounting stress, to clarify prose, to translate text, to experiment for fun, etc.).
You may not submit any work generated by an AI program as your own. If you include material generated by an AI program, you must cite it like any other reference material, with due consideration for the quality of the reference, which may be poor. Remember that so-called artificial intelligence only recognizes rudimentary patterns that reflect and reinforce the status quo, often reproducing biases. Your writing will be stronger if it is the product of your own original, idiosyncratic ideas that evolve through the writing process.
Submitting work as yours that you did not develop or create on your own is a violation of the Harvard College Honor Code.
Accommodations
If you need academic adjustments or accommodations in this course, please speak with me and present your letter from the Accessible Education Office (AEO), which is a resource for students with disabilities and temporary health conditions who may require accommodations to fully participate in all aspects of Harvard student life. If you wish to notify me, please do so by the end of the second week of the term so that I may respond in a timely manner, since accommodations are not retroactive. The AEO consults with any student who experiences barriers related to physical or mental health, or learning disabilities, and works collaboratively with students and their faculty. Students are not required to share their diagnoses or clinical documentation with anyone outside of the AEO, but you may wish to notify me if there are potentially inaccessible elements of this course. All discussions will remain as confidential as possible within the parameters of FERPA; I may consult AEO to discuss appropriate implementation. Please be in touch with the AEO directly if you are not yet registered.
Readings
Students are required to purchase one text for this class: Susan Stryker, Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution, revised edition (2017). This text may purchased as a trade paperback or an e-book.
Other readings and resources will be available through Harvard’s library, posted to the course website, or accessible online.
Assignments
- Students will complete all assigned readings and actively participate in class discussions. Class time will be divided between short lectures and discussion, so please come to class ready to talk about the readings for that day. At the professor’s discretion, there may also be short quizzes or in-class writing exercises on the readings for that week incorporated into this portion of the grade.
This will be worth 30% of the final grade. - Short response papers. To assess your knowledge and understanding of the course material and engagement with the readings, there will be a series of short response papers over the course of the semester asking you to analyze primary and/or secondary sources from the readings and/or to consider broader questions of trans history. These assignments will be typically about 2–3 pages in length and will respond to a specific question about course material, which you will receive ahead of time.
There will be a total of three prompts for these assignments. You will be required to respond to at least two of them. If you respond to all the prompts, I will drop your lowest grade on this assignment, so you will ultimately be graded on the best two responses.
These responses will be worth 20% of the final grade.
- Newspaper analysis paper. To develop your skills with crafting and supporting a historical argument using primary sources, you will select at least 3 contemporary newspaper articles and/or newsreels on Christine Jorgensen’s highly publicized medical transition. In a 3–4 page paper, you will analyze these articles and/or newsreels and how they present their subject. You must formulate your own original argument about how these articles portray Jorgensen and use evidence from your chosen primary sources to support your argument.
Some themes or topics you might consider as you develop your argument: what is the role of science, especially medical science, in these articles? What about race? Family? Class? Sexuality? What do the articles emphasize? What might they be concealing or leaving out?
Finally, consider how articles like these contribute to our understanding of trans history. How do the perspectives of these sources shape our view of the trans past?
Your analysis should be about 3–4 pages long. This assignment will be worth 20% of your final grade.
- As the final assignment for this course, students will write a research paper (2000–2500 words) on a topic related to global transgender history, including both primary and secondary sources. Topics must be approved by the instructor.
Components of the paper will be due through the course of the semester, with the final version due during the examination period. Details on each stage of this assignment will be provided as the course progresses. Not every stage will receive a formal grade, but you must turn in each stage to receive full credit for the assignment.
Apart from the individual meetings, each of these components will be due on the course site by the beginning of the class period that day. This final paper (and all of its components) will be worth 30% of the final grade.
Assignment percentage summary:
Readings and participation——————30%
Short response papers————————20%
Newspaper analysis paper——————20%
Final research paper—————————30%
All assignments must be submitted on the course site by the date and time listed on the syllabus. They must be typed in 12-pt Times New Roman font, double-spaced. Both primary and secondary sources quoted or otherwise referenced in written assignments must be cited, preferably using the Chicago Manual of Style standards (see the Purdue Owl for more information on Chicago Style and links to information on other styles). Please put your name, date, and the course title at the top of the first page.
Course Outline
Unit 1: Key Concepts in Trans History
Topics
Where and how can we find trans people in the past, especially in the distant past? How can we situate sex and gender in their historical and cultural context? What are the possibilities and limits of (trans)gender as a term?
Sample readings
- “The Androginos: A Rabbinic Discussion of Gender Boundaries (Land of Israel, Third Century CE)"
- Qalonymos ben Qalonymos, “On Being a Woman,” 1323
- Interrogation of Eleanor Rykener, Corporation of London Records Office, Plea and Memoranda Roll A34, m. 2 (1395)
- Prints and illustrations of the Chevalier/Chevalière d'Eon from the British Museum, 1764–1813
- Marta V. Vicente, “Transgender: A Useful Category?: Or, How the Historical Study of ‘Transsexual’ and ‘Transvestite’ Can Help Us Rethink ‘Transgender’ as a Category,” TSQ 8, no. 4 (2021): 426–442
- Gabrielle M. W. Bychowski, “The Transgender Turn: Eleanor Rykener Speaks Back,” in Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before the Modern, eds. Greta LaFleur, Masha Raskolnikov, and Anna Kłosowska (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2021), 95–113
Unit 2: Gender in the Age of Imperialism
Topics
What is the relationship between gender, imperialism, and colonialism? What different models of sex and gender have existed (or still exist) around the world? How have past and present colonial systems responded to sex and gender diversity?
Sample readings
- Excerpts from Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi, Missione Evangélica nel Regno del Congo, trans. John Thornton
- Anon, “Female Eunuchs in India,” Lancet 40, no. 1029 (1843): 262; A Bengal Surgeon, “Supposed Female Eunuchs,” Lancet 40, no. 1031 (1843): 343
- Nicola Ókin Frioli, "We are Princesses in a Land of Machos," 2014
- Excerpts from Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature
- Maria Lugones, “The Coloniality of Gender,” Worlds & Knowledges Otherwise, Spring 2008: 1–17
- Evan B. Towle and Lynn M. Morgan, “Romancing the Transgender Native: Rethinking the Use of the ‘Third Gender’ Concept,’” in The Transgender Studies Reader, eds. Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle (New York: Routledge, 2006), 666–684
- Kai Pyle, “Naming and Claiming: Recovering Ojibwe and Plains Cree Two-Spirit Language,” Transgender Studies Quarterly 5, no. 4 (2018): 574–588
Unit 3: Defining, Evading, and Medicalizing Gender
Topics
“New women,” female husbands, and transmasculinity in the late nineteenth century; the medicalization of gender; the birth of trans activism
Sample readings
- Excerpts from Rachilde, Monsieur Vénus (1884)
- Magnus Hirschfeld, selections from The Transvestites: The Erotic Urge to Cross-Dress, in The Transgender Studies Reader, eds. Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle (New York: Routledge, 2006), 28–39
- Art and photography from To Be Seen: Queer Lives, 1900–1950
- Peter Boag, “Go West Young Man, Go East Young Woman: Searching for the Trans in Western Gender History,” Western Historical Quarterly 36, no. 4 (Winter 2005): 477–497
- Rachel Mesch, Before Trans: Three Gender Stories from Nineteenth-Century France (2020)
- Jules Gill-Peterson, “Depathologizing Trans Childhood: The Role of History in the Clinic,” in Pink and Blue: Gender, Culture, and the Health of Children, eds. Elena C. Conis et al. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2021), 90–102
Unit 4: Transgender Rights and Transgender Liberation
Topics
The Compton's Cafeteria Riot, the Stonewall Riot, and trans activism in the 1960s and 1970s; drag history; sex work in trans history; new waves of trans activism
Sample readings
- Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonistic Struggle, Untorelli Press, n.d.
- Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues, 1993
- Paris is Burning (documentary), 1990 [link to watch via Kanopy]
- Excerpts from Trans: Transgender Life Stories from South Africa, eds. Ruth Morgan, Charl Marais, and Joy Rosemary Wellbeloved (Auckland Park, South Africa: 2009)
- Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (documentary), 2005 [link]
- Samantha Rosenthal, “Drag Queens, Sex Workers, and Middle Schoolers: Bridging Generational Divides in Transgender History,” in Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2021), 121–153
- Judith Butler, “Why is the idea of ‘gender’ provoking backlash the world over?,” The Guardian, October 23, 2021
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|