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Introduction

Welcome to Trans* Journeys – Illustrated Essays!

This collection of essays was developed by students in CSIS 301 – Intro to Trans* Studies at the University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus. These essays are the outputs of a course assignment using a set of teaching and learning practices known as open pedagogy that involve open educational resources and students-as-creators.

The CSIS 301 – Intro to Trans* Studies course introduces students to the field of Trans Studies through various conceptual and theoretical frameworks. This collection of essays is a culmination of the students’ learning throughout the course and their effort to openly share what they have learned in a visual and textual format.

The course was project-driven. The students worked on a single project by completing scaffolding assignments throughout the term. The assignments often involved peer review and support. Considering that this was a diverse group of 33 students who arrived at this course with very different lived experiences and knowledges, as an effort to centre trans voices and experiences in the projects they were tasked with creating an illustrated essay introducing, analysing, and contextualising a memoir or autobiography written by a trans person. The assignment also required them to situate their chosen books within a longer tradition (or genre) of trans autobiographical writing as identified by Trans Studies scholars such as Juliet Jacques, Evan Vipond and Kit Heyam.[1] They were also asked to be conscious of and careful with their citation practices, as suggested by Katja Thieme and Mary Ann S. Saunders[2], and to adhere to the Digital Transgender Archive’s  Harm Reduction guidelines.

The students had the option of only submitting their work privately through the Canvas platform or also publishing it publicly in this collective publication. Overall, the 33 projects beautifully reflected one of the tenets of the course: that trans* experiences and stories are diverse and multiple.

The ten essays that comprise this collective digital publication provide a sample of the wide range of book titles and topics covered in the projects. A.M. uses respectability politics and deviance as resistance as frameworks to analyze Amanda Lepore’s Doll Parts (2017). Through Elliot Page’s Page Boy (2023), N.B. explores trans representation in media. Charlie Sutherland takes us to a foundational text in trans auto-biographical writing by articulating the “dialectic of trans pain and sorrow” in Conundrum (1974) by Jan Morris. CAS finds inspiration in the work of Tumblr artists to analyze non-binary resistance in None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza (2022). While Ariana Revnic’s examination of Mx. Sly’s Transland: Consent, kink & pleasure (2023) finds joyful resistance in trans kink practices, Elsa Kono shows how fiction can serve as a way to resist transnormativity in Kai Cheng Thom’s Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars (2016). Lindsay J. looked at the “broader systemic issues facing anyone expressing femininity” by using the lens of femmephobia, transmisogyny, and the construction of masculinity in opposition to femininity to analyze Vivek Shraya’s I’m Afraid of Men (2018). While the course was limited by the sources we can collectively access in a course taught in English, some projects asked us to look at trans experiences in other parts of the globe. Yasuko provides a critique of the Western-centred framework of trans autobiographical writing studies and uses homonationalism and homocapitalism as theoretical frameworks to analyze Sōmu Buchō ha Toransu Jendā (The General Manager is Transgender) by Rin Okabe (2018). Mia Libbey examined Lili Elbe’s 1933 autobiography Man Into Woman through different eyes. Finally, in an exploration of Mario Martino’s Emergence: A Transsexual Autobiography (1977), Sol Reyes looked at the intersection of religion and trans identity, complicating often-held assumptions by asserting that while religion can be an oppressive force it can also serve as a vehicle for self-acceptance and community building.

Individually, these contributions show the commitment of promising young scholars to not only produce academic research but to also share it with broader audiences. Together, they represent the culmination of a 13-week process of community building and collaborative work. It was a privilege and an honour to learn with the CSIS 301 2024 W1 students this term. I would like to thank them for embarking on this journey and for so generously sharing their knowledges with me. I would also like to thank Erin Fields for making this publication possible and Ekatarina Grguric (who has been an amazing partner in previous open pedagogy projects) for introducing us. I also thank Kim Snowden for her guidance and patience as I found my footing in the CSIS program.


  1. Jacques, J. (2017). Forms of Resistance: Uses of Memoir, Theory, and Fiction in Trans Life Writing. Life Writing 14(3), 357-370; Vipond, E. (2019). Becoming Culturally (Un)intelligible: Exploring the Terrain of Trans Life Writing. a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, 34:1, 19-43; Heyam, K. (2022) Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender. Seal Press.
  2. Thieme, K. and Mary A. S. (2018). How do You Wish to be Cited? Citation Practices and a Scholarly Community of Care in Trans Studies Research Articles. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 32, 80-90.

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Trans* Journeys Copyright © 2024 by A.M.; Ariana Revnic; Cas; Charlie Sutherland; Elsa Kono; Sol Reyes; Lindsay J; N.B.; and Mia Libbey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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