The spectre of the tranny: pedagogical (im)possibilities

Abstract

ABSTRACT Transfemininity marks a site of social upheaval, an encounter that sparks discord. Transfemininity is always otherworldly, posing trans girls and women as figures sought out for capture and eradication. In this manuscript, I elucidate the affective contours of what I describe as the spectre of the tranny, which is a technology of capture and dispossession that seeks to confirm the killability of trans women. Mirroring broader social discourses about transfemininity and trans women, the spectre of the tranny haunts the institution of higher education, shaping pedagogical realities for trans women. In this manuscript, I attend to how the spectre of the tranny attenuates pedagogical (im)possibilities for trans women faculty, particularly those who are pre-tenure and/or in contingent roles. Additionally, I gesture towards how trans(girl) sociality may provide a significant site of momentary resistance from the spectre’s haunting absent-presence.