Speaker
RL Goldberg
Details

Event Description
In this talk, I argue that the most significant institutional shift in trans studies, from university gender clinic to liberal arts program, entailed two necessary recalibrations: first, in recognition of who was qualified to teach; and second, a broader, seismic shift in what pedagogy itself might mean for the field.
Drawing on John Money’s archives at Johns Hopkins and at the Kinsey Institute, I trace the history of gender clinics in the United States to their closures, and the founding of trans studies as a humanist, liberal arts project. This talk explores how trans gender became institutionalized—first as a medical field, then as an interdisciplinary humanist one—and to what ends. Finally, I trace how the shift from gender clinic to humanities program impacted the way trans narratives were received and address the role of trans studies in the university today.
Drawing on John Money’s archives at Johns Hopkins and at the Kinsey Institute, I trace the history of gender clinics in the United States to their closures, and the founding of trans studies as a humanist, liberal arts project. This talk explores how trans gender became institutionalized—first as a medical field, then as an interdisciplinary humanist one—and to what ends. Finally, I trace how the shift from gender clinic to humanities program impacted the way trans narratives were received and address the role of trans studies in the university today.