Trans Studies as Book Historical Method

J. D. Sargan, University of Georgia

Friday, October 17, 2025, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EST

Archival collections are political spaces: the decisions that govern whose histories are preserved, when, and by whom are not neutral. They reflect the communities that make them. For most of western history queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people were excluded from such communities. As a result, the experiences of premodern gender-divergent people went largely unreported and reconstructing such histories relies on the piecing together of ephemeral glimpses. Tackling these limitations requires generative modes of reading through the archive to seek out trans lives beyond the trace. Literary scholars have developed tactics and tools to read through such traces, but how do we move beyond the limits of the trace to uncover a more expansive history of premodern gender non-conformity?