(no subject)
CALL FOR PAPERS
First World Forum of Sociology: Sociological Research and Public Debate
Barcelona, Spain, September 5-8, 2008
(http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/)
WORKING GROUP: The Body in the Social Sciences
(http://www.isa-sociology.org/wg03.htm)
2008 BARCELONA FOCUS: Mapping the Body: The bodily factor in memory and
social action
(http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/wg/wg03.htm)
SESSION TITLE: Transsexual and transgender bodies: technological and
socio-cultural distinctions between transgender and transsexual experience
and meaning making
ORGANIZER: Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, American University, USA
Transgender and transsexual experiences continue to be identified
independently from each other based on embodiment, access to technological
(mainly, but not exclusively, surgical) procedures, and readings of
‘transgender’ (as unsettling gender) and ‘transsexual’ (as reaffirming of a
gender) difference. At the same time, transsexuality as a
medical-psychiatric defined experience has been less pathologized, and as
transgender has evolved from simply being about ‘gender bending’ and into a
self-identification as well, both of these moves are paving the way for a
closer relationship between transgender and transsexual in sociological and
social theorizing.
Of course, transgender and transsexual do not mean the same to everyone in
the same country, or even within the same cities. Regionally and globally,
‘trans’ populations, their embodied experiences, and the meaning their
bodies and experiences are given in various socio-cultural settings, are
varied. Moreover, these terms do not hold the same currency in all parts of
the globe, with one term being more prevalent than another, or subsumed
within the other. How social scientists study these experiences, or map the
relationship of trans bodies to their socio-cultural contexts, is but an
emergent area of inquiry in our field.
This panel seeks to illustrate the various relations of these terms
(transgender and transsexual) to the local, regional, and global contexts.
Empirical and theoretical work that links the body to trans experiences is
appropriate for this session. Technological advancements as related to the
topic of trans bodies are welcomed, as well as local illustrations of
tensions between technologies and bodies that are socially produced (whether
recognized or not) as trans. Panelists are encouraged to present in the
language that best represents the knowledge about transgender and
transsexual studies in their countries-if language is an element that
influences the negotiations between the global understandings of
trans-bodied and the local interpretations of such experiences.
ABSTRACTS DUE: DECEMBER 31, 2007
ACCEPTED PAPERS DUE: JANUARY 31, 2008
Please contact Salvador Vidal-Ortiz at vidalort@american.edu for questions
about the session.
For more information about membership and benefits from joining the
International Sociological Association, refer to
http://www.isa-sociology.org/.