Since 2013, over half of all gender-selective women's colleges in the United States have adopted admission policies that outline varying biological, social, and legal criteria for who may apply to their institution. In effect, these policies opened the gates to admission, driven by the goal to be more inclusive to transgender applicants, especially trans* women. This dissertation examines if and how these policies enact missions of social justice, diversity, and inclusion through the informal practices, production, and regulation of gender on campus. How do gender-selective women's colleges go from trans* admitting to trans* serving? Through a nine-month ethnography of trans* admission policies at two gender-selective women's colleges, including 126 interviews with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; archival document analysis regarding trans* and queer history on campus; and participant observation of events and spaces on campus with trans* students, my objective is to describe the world that takes shape when gender and feminism become institutionalized, routine, and used as descriptions to both include and exclude. I contend that the impact of these admission policies is not limited to the application process, but rather the experiences of matriculated students are shaped by the gendered norms and discourses structured within the policies themselves. Findings suggest that despite the fact that these policies, formally, allow for transgender students to apply and enroll to gender-selective women's colleges, institutionalized commitments to inclusion obscure and even intensify existing gender inequality, particularly for students who do not fit within normative ideals of the "right way to be trans*" including those who are low-income, non-white, and trans* men. Because the feminist missions of these colleges continue to reaffirm an ideal of cisgender womanhood on campus, the extent to which these inclusion policies were able to make fundamental structural changes in how gendered power, resources, and opportunities are distributed was limited at best. As such, this dissertation is a call to think about gender as an institutional product; not simply in terms of the politics that are attached to the experiences, bodies, and identities, but in the very constitution of gender as a social category. As an ethnography of how these categories become comprehensible, admissible, and livable, this dissertation complicates our understanding of how policies work, how gender is reinforced in the women's college setting, and how to transform institutional practices through a trans* justice framework. / Doctor of Philosophy / Since my graduation from Smith College in 2013, over half of all gender-selective women's colleges in the United States have publicly adopted admission policies outlining up to fourteen different combinations of biomedical, social, and legal criteria for who may apply to their institutions. In effect, these policies define fourteen different ways to be a "woman" that honor both the experiences and identities of students as well as the histories, traditions, and missions of gender-selective women's colleges. While I am proud of my alma mater for adopting such a policy, I have been struck by the ensuing tensions and debates that occurred among students and my fellow alumni about who belonged within our community. My time at Smith equipped me with new concepts, identities, and possibilities of what community means by being with people of other sexes, genders, races, sexualities, abilities, socio-economic statuses, and mindsets. Gender in this feminist space, in other words, was about so much more than a singular common experience of biology. Hence, the trans* policy raised more questions than answers for me: How do my trans* peers experience the woman-centered atmosphere of gender-selective women's colleges? In what ways do these policies and other institutional practices support these students? Through this dissertation, I sought to understand the experiences of trans* students enrolled in two gender-selective women's colleges by mapping the implementation and impact of trans* inclusion on campus. I wanted to know how these policies—and gender-selective women's colleges more broadly—shape institutionalized feminist missions of social justice. Over the span of nine-months, I spent time at two gender-selective women's colleges, one with a policy that admits trans* women, men, and non-binary students and another that limits trans* admission to trans* women, and conducted 126 interviews with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators; archival document analysis regarding trans* and queer history on campus; and participant observation of events and spaces on campus with trans* students. I found that despite the fact that these policies, formally, allow for transgender students to apply and enroll to gender-selective colleges, the institutional commitments to inclusion obscured and even intensified existing gender inequality particularly for students who do not fit within normative ideals of the "right way to be trans*" including those who are low-income, non-white, and trans* men. Because the feminist missions of these colleges continue to reaffirm an ideal of cisgender womanhood on campus, the extent to which these inclusion policies were able to make fundamental changes to support transgender students was limited at best, and violent at worst. This does not suggest that there was no hope. Rather, students found ways to navigate these formal policies, resources, and spaces to create safer environments for their community, surviving and thriving in environments that were antithetic-to-hostile to their inclusion. As a result, I conclude that the implementation of a singular policy is not an adequate solution to full inclusion. Rather, we must consider how policy and practice may limit inclusion through intersections of race, class, sexuality, ability, and other axes of identity. As such, this dissertation is a call to think about how gender-selective women's colleges can go from trans* admitting to trans* serving.

The idea for this study was evoked from a number of observations that we did in relation to our personal interest for feminism and gender studies. We have noticed tendecies of identity politics in feminist web­based discussion forums, which have led to intermutual conflicts within the feminist movement. Discussions of great importance between the members of these discussion forums, have oftentimes ended up being matters of interpretative prerogative, and to whom it belongs, as well as questions about who holds authority to claim which opinion, and why one holds authority to claim any opinion at all. We read this phenomenon as a matter of power configuration ­ for even within these formed groups of people that are oppressed in the western majority culture, relations including roles with oppressing positions as well as roles with oppressed positions emerge. In this study we have chosen to focus on a certain type of identities that are frequently stressed when conflicts emerge in these web­based forums, namley transgender identities. The purpose of this paper is to bring forward the narratives of people with transgender identities, about their experienced possibilites to word in feminist web­based discussion forums, as well as analyze the discourses of power that figures in these forums. The material for this study was collected through qualitative interviews, which were made with four different respondents. All of which having experience of being transgender and members of different feminist web­based forums. The analysis in turn consists of essential recitals by the respondents, which are resolved from a discourse theoretical perspective. According to discourse theory, power configurations between people are made from a variation of factors that determine the directions of power, and are constantly reformed from one moment to another. From the recitals of our respondents we understand that there are several power discourses prevailing concurrently in the feminist web­based discussion forums, and that there is no binary and consistent divergence between the oppressing position and the oppressed position. A person whose identity validates its power in one discussion, can be totally powerless because of its identity in another.

No description available.

This thesis represents an investigative critique of ethics in mass media representation of trans people. It advances its respective set of ethics regarding trans representation by critically examining how contemporary capitalist media produces a more "sanitized" trans representation that fails to reflect the material living conditions of the immense majority of trans people underneath the regime of capitalism. This study also advocates a black feminist-positive transfeminism that critiques the assimilationist trans narratives reproduced across mass media and social media. This thesis thereby constitutes a case study of trans representation in media. It specifically implements critical discourse analysis and comparative case studies as its research methods, with critical media studies as its methodological discipline. This approach critically engages with the material in unison with trans studies, transfeminism, and media studies theoretical frameworks. This study thereby builds on and contributes to the research field of transgender media studies. Core findings in this thesis involve that neoliberal media integrates a preoccupation with predominantly white, "passing," and indifferent trans women who firmly rejects critical self-reflection. That is, a media fixation with trans women who essentially "blend in" among cisgender people as if these women allegedly represent the "exemplary" trans people distinguished from "undesirables." This thesis discerns this capitalist arrangement as a prejudiced groundwork that ultimately engenders conflict rather than cooperation between the academic labor of Black feminism and transfeminism.

[pt] Atualmente o Brasil, consta nas primeiras colocações no ranking de países onde a população LGBT, em especial as travestis e mulheres trans – particularmente as negras – sofrem graves violações de direitos humanos, por comportarem em seus corpos mais de um tipo de opressão colonial, principalmente no que tange o acesso aos serviços de saúde. O presente estudo tem por objetivo central compreender a partir de um olhar interseccional, como se configura o acesso destas aos serviços de saúde, levando em conta como essas mulheres, como pessoas em situação de extremo risco social, buscam a efetividade de seus direitos, por meio de estratégias de sobrevivência. A discussão do referido estudo são fundamentadas pelas correntes teóricas do feminismo decolonial, interseccionalidade e do transfeminismo, por apreender que este percurso teórico permitiria contemplar as falas de mulheres tão invisibilizadas pelo processo da colonialidade de poder e de gênero que permanece até os dias atuais. Assumindo o pressuposto que a existência de uma política nacional de atenção à saúde integral da população LGBT não é garantia de acesso aos serviços de saúde por mulheres trans e travesti negra é demonstrada por meio da dificuldade que estas têm seu acesso aos serviços de saúde, devido à discriminação. Utilizamos como técnica metodológica o grupo focal com 6 mulheres trans e travestis negras, a fim de valorizar a historicidade destas, dos significados/sentidos que atribuem às suas vivências, sentimentos, experiências, crenças etc., no acesso aos serviços de saúde pública. Ao final do estudo foi possível vislumbrar que Política Nacional de Saúde Integral LGBT, é algo que não está presente efetivamente na realidade cotidiana da vida destas mulheres, considerando que ao tentarem acessar os serviços saúde não são atendidas dentro da complexidade de suas vivências plurais, mas sim por meio de uma lógica reducionista segregatória, que ao reproduz mais invisibilidade social. / [en] Currently, Brazil is in the first places in the ranking of countries where the LGBT population, especially transvestites and trans women - particularly black women - suffer serious violations of human rights, for having more than one type of colonial oppression in their bodies, mainly regarding access to health services. The main objective of the present study is to understand, from an intersectional point of view, how their access to health services is configured, taking into account how these women, as people in extreme social risk, seek the effectiveness of their rights, for through survival strategies. The discussion of the aforementioned study is based on the theoretical currents of decolonial feminism, intersectionality and transfeminism, by apprehending that this theoretical path would allow us to contemplate the speeches of women so invisible by the process of coloniality of power and gender that remains until the present day. Assuming that the existence of a national policy for comprehensive health care for the LGBT population is not a guarantee of access to health services for trans women and black transvestites, it is demonstrated through the difficulty they have in accessing health services, due to to discrimination. We used as a methodological technique the focus group with 6 trans women and black transvestites, in order to value their historicity, the meanings/senses they attribute to their experiences, feelings, experiences, beliefs, etc., in the access to public health services. At the end of the study, it was possible to see that the National Policy for Integral Health,LGBT, is something that is not effectively present in the daily reality of these women s lives, considering that when they try to access health services, they are not served within the complexity of their plural experiences, but rather yes, through a segregating reductionist logic, which reproduces more social invisibility.

This thesis develops a critique of the methodology of mainstream academic moral philosophy, based on insights from feminist and more generally anti-oppressive political thought. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first, I loosely characterise a certain dominant methodology of philosophy, one based on giving an important epistemological role to existing, 'pre-theoretical' moral attitudes, such as intuitions. I then argue that such methodologies may be critiqued on the basis of theories that identify these moral attitudes as problematically rooted in oppressive social institutions, such as patriarchy and white supremacy; that is, I identify these attitudes as ideological, and so a poor guide to moral reality. In the second part, I identify and explore of a number of themes and tendencies from feminist, anti-racist, and other anti-oppressive traditions of research and activism, in order to draw out the implications of these themes for the methodology of moral philosophy. The first issue I examine is that of how, and how much, moral philosophers should use abstraction; I eventually use the concept of intersectionality to argue for the position that philosophers need to use less, and a different type of, abstraction. The second major theme I examine is that of ignorance, in the context of alternative epistemologies: standpoint epistemology and epistemologies of ignorance. I argue that philosophers must not take themselves to be well placed to understand, using solitary methodologies, any topic of moral interest. Finally, I examine the theme of transformation in moral philosophy. I argue that experiencing certain kinds of personal transformation may be an essential part of developing accurate ethical views, and I draw out the political implications of this position for the methodology of moral philosophy.

Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes offers a critical and creative intervention into cultural representations of gendered body dissidence in contemporary film. The study argues for the possibility of finding spaces of “disidentification”, so-called “exit scapes” within the films. Exit scapes disrupt the dominant cinematic regime set up for the trans character, which ties them into stories of discrimination, humiliation and violence. In Trans Cinema, for instance films such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), scenes of singing, dancing and dreaming allow a different form of engagement with the films. As argued here, they allow a critical re-reading and an affirmative re-imagining of trans embodiment. The aim of this study is to investigate the utopian and hopeful potential within Trans Cinema from a critical transfeminist perspective. While focusing in particular on trans entrants as “spectators” or readers, this study draws on the work of a wide range of feminist and cultural scholars, such as Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. The thesis etches out cinematic spatiotemporalities that unfold possibilities of utopian worlding and trans becoming through a set of conceptual innovations. By utilising a critical approach to audio-visuality and feminist film theory, the thesis re-conceptualises haptic spectatorship theory and its critique in western modernist ocularcentricism through a set of conceptual innovations. The methodological tools developed in this thesis, such as the “entrant”, the “exit scape” and “sensible cinematic intra-activity”, feature here as a multisensorial methodology for transdisciplinary transgender studies and feminist film theory as well as visual culture at large. / Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes är en kritisk och kreativ intervention med fokus på kulturella representationer av kroppar som bryter mot en könsbinär ordning i samtida film. Studien argumenterar för möjligheten att hitta utrymmen för “disidentification”, så kallade “exit scapes” inom filmerna. Exit scapes stör den dominanta filmiska ordning som skapats för transkaraktären, en ordning som är förbunden med berättelser om diskriminering, förödmjukelse och våld. Inom Trans Cinema, i filmer som exempelvis Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), öppnar scener med sång, dans och drömmar upp för andra former av engagemang med filmerna. Som det argumenteras för i avhandlingen tillåter dessa ett kritiskt omformulerande av, och ett nytt affirmativt sätt att föreställa sig, transkroppslighet. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka den utopiska och hoppfulla potential som finns inom transfilm utifrån ett kritiskt transfeministiskt perspektiv. Även om studien främst riktar sig till trans entrants som “åskådare” eller läsare, så har den en bred teoretisk bas hämtad från verk av en lång rad feministiska forskare inom kulturfältet, såsom Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad och Donna Haraway. Denna avhandling skissar filmiska spatiotemporaliteter, vilka öppnar för möjligheter av utopiska värdsliga och transsubjektiva tillblivelser genom utvecklandet av olika teoretiska begrepp. Genom ett kritiskt förhållningssätt till audiovisualitet och feministisk filmteori, revideras och omformuleras haptisk åskådarskapsteori och dess kritik i en västerländsk okularcentrism genom olika teoretiska innovationer. De metodologiska verktygen som utvecklas i avhandlingen, såsom “the entrant”, “the exit scape” samt “sensible cinematic intra-activity” utgör här funktionen som multisensorisk metodologi för transdisciplinära transstudier, feministisk filmteori samt för visuell kultur i stort.

Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes offers a critical and creative intervention into cultural representations of gendered body dissidence in contemporary film. The study argues for the possibility of finding spaces of “disidentification”, so-called “exit scapes” within the films. Exit scapes disrupt the dominant cinematic regime set up for the trans character, which ties them into stories of discrimination, humiliation and violence. In Trans Cinema, for instance films such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), scenes of singing, dancing and dreaming allow a different form of engagement with the films. As argued here, they allow a critical re-reading and an affirmative re-imagining of trans embodiment. The aim of this study is to investigate the utopian and hopeful potential within Trans Cinema from a critical transfeminist perspective. While focusing in particular on trans entrants as “spectators” or readers, this study draws on the work of a wide range of feminist and cultural scholars, such as Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. The thesis etches out cinematic spatiotemporalities that unfold possibilities of utopian worlding and trans becoming through a set of conceptual innovations. By utilising a critical approach to audio-visuality and feminist film theory, the thesis re-conceptualises haptic spectatorship theory and its critique in western modernist ocularcentricism through a set of conceptual innovations. The methodological tools developed in this thesis, such as the “entrant”, the “exit scape” and “sensible cinematic intra-activity”, feature here as a multisensorial methodology for transdisciplinary transgender studies and feminist film theory as well as visual culture at large. / Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes är en kritisk och kreativ intervention med fokus på kulturella representationer av kroppar som bryter mot en könsbinär ordning i samtida film. Studien argumenterar för möjligheten att hitta utrymmen för “disidentification”, så kallade “exit scapes” inom filmerna. Exit scapes stör den dominanta filmiska ordning som skapats för transkaraktären, en ordning som är förbunden med berättelser om diskriminering, förödmjukelse och våld. Inom Trans Cinema, i filmer som exempelvis Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), öppnar scener med sång, dans och drömmar upp för andra former av engagemang med filmerna. Som det argumenteras för i avhandlingen tillåter dessa ett kritiskt omformulerande av, och ett nytt affirmativt sätt att föreställa sig, transkroppslighet. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka den utopiska och hoppfulla potential som finns inom transfilm utifrån ett kritiskt transfeministiskt perspektiv. Även om studien främst riktar sig till trans entrants som “åskådare” eller läsare, så har den en bred teoretisk bas hämtad från verk av en lång rad feministiska forskare inom kulturfältet, såsom Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad och Donna Haraway. Denna avhandling skissar filmiska spatiotemporaliteter, vilka öppnar för möjligheter av utopiska värdsliga och transsubjektiva tillblivelser genom utvecklandet av olika teoretiska begrepp. Genom ett kritiskt förhållningssätt till audiovisualitet och feministisk filmteori, revideras och omformuleras haptisk åskådarskapsteori och dess kritik i en västerländsk okularcentrism genom olika teoretiska innovationer. De metodologiska verktygen som utvecklas i avhandlingen, såsom “the entrant”, “the exit scape” samt “sensible cinematic intra-activity” utgör här funktionen som multisensorisk metodologi för transdisciplinära transstudier, feministisk filmteori samt för visuell kultur i stort.

Resumen Natural Hysteria... es una investigacio'n basada en una pra'ctica transdisciplinaria que documenta el proceso de produccio'n de un ciclo de performances basadas en el texto: rituales, presentaciones teatrales, acciones callejeras y presentaciones de video, canciones y talleres. Es una respuesta arti'stica al deterioro de nuestro medio ambiente y los ataques contra la diversidad cultural y biolo'gica que esta'n llevando a cabo un sistema capitalista basado en la acumulacio'n de riqueza a toda costa que nos esta' llevando al borde de un colapso ecolo'gico. Se procede a trave's de un ana'lisis de otras pra'cticas arti'sticas disidentes que comparten una perspectiva queer, feminista, postcolonial o ecolo'gica que las vincula a los conceptos explorados en mi trabajo para contextualizarlo en el campo expandido de las artes contempora'neas. La "histeria" alternativa que forma la base conceptual de este proyecto tiene sus inicios en los albores de la edad moderna y traza una historia de dominacio'n de los "otros": se centra principalmente en las mujeres, en el ge'nero y en los disidentes sexuales, las personas de color y los animales. La explotacio'n de los recursos naturales y humanos es una consecuencia de una cosmovisio'n basada en el establecimiento de oposiciones binarias que permiten que el "otro" sea clasificado y dominado. Por ejemplo: hombre / mujer, blanco / negro, hetero / homosexual, cultura / naturaleza. La construccio'n de estos "otros" - "femenino", "nativo", "queer", "naturaleza" - excluye a estos sujetos de la construccio'n de una identidad dominante que, sin embargo, depende de estas categori'as para su existencia. En el Renacimiento, los campos de las ciencias y las humanidades no estaban separados. La visio'n mecanicista del mundo no habi'a superado por completo las creencias paganas en la magia y en una fuerza espiritual que reside en todos los seres. Esta visio'n era una reliquia de la era precristiana y finalmente seri'a erradicada por las fuerzas unidas del Estado y la Iglesia a trave's de los procesos de la Inquisicio'n, la caza de brujas, la colonizacio'n y la nueva religio'n de la "Ciencia". Todos estos procesos han producido un gran cambio en nuestra relacio'n con la naturaleza, que en la actualidad se considera una entidad totalmente inerte. La naturaleza ya no forma parte de nuestro ser y se ha convertido simplemente en materia prima. La colonizacio'n continu'a hoy bajo una poli'tica neoliberal que utiliza el concepto de desarrollo para requisar territorio de los pueblos indi'genas a fin de explotar sus recursos naturales. Esto se justifica clasificando estas personas como primitivas porque su modo de vida se basa en vivir en equilibrio con la naturaleza. La funcio'n de una pra'ctica arti'stica poli'ticamente comprometida es desafiar la nocio'n de que no existe una alternativa al sistema actual. El marco teo'rico y arti'stico de esta investigacio'n ha conducido al desarrollo de un alter ego performativo, el chama'n transge'nero Geyserbird, y a la configuracio'n de una serie de performances que incluye rituales participativos, instalaciones con presencia y la reapropiacio'n queer de espacios industriales abandonados. El chama'n transge'nero es un ser espiritual que va ma's alla' de las limitaciones del sistema de ge'nero binario y se conecta con las culturas indi'genas. El despliegue de esta figura en un contexto contempora'neo invita al pu'blico a imaginar otras posibilidades para si' mismos y para nuestra sociedad. / Abstract Natural Hysteria... is a trans-disciplinary practice led investigation which documents the process of production of a cycle of text based performances -rituals, street actions, theatrical presentations, and video presentations, songs and workshops. It is an artistic response to the deterioration of our environment and the attacks on cultural and biological diversity being carried out by a capitalist system based on the accumulation of wealth at all costs which is leading us to the border of an ecological collapse. It proceeds through an analyses of other dissident artistic practices which share a queer, feminist postcolonial or ecological perspective linking them to the concepts explored in my work in order to contextualise it in the expanded field of the contemporary arts. The alternative "hysteria" that forms the conceptual basis of this project has its beginnings in the dawn of the modern age and traces a history of domination of those "others": focusing mainly on women, gender and sexual dissidents, people of colour and animals. The exploitation of natural and human resources is a consequence of a worldview based on the establishment of binary oppositions that allow the "other" to be classified and dominated. For example: man / woman, white / black, hetero / homosexual, culture / nature. The construction of these "others" - the "feminine", the "native", the "queer", "nature" - excludes these subjects from the construction of a master identity that, nevertheless, depends on these categories for its existence. In the Renaissance the fields of the sciences and the humanities were not separated. The mechanistic view of the world had not completely overcome pagan beliefs in magic and in a spiritual force which resides in all beings. This vision was a relic of the pre-Christian era and would finally be eradicated by the united forces of State and Church through the processes of the Inquisition, the witch hunts, colonization and the new religion of "Science". All of these processes have produced a huge change in our relationship with nature, currently seen as a totally inert entity. Nature is no longer part of our being and has became nothing more than raw material. Colonisation continues today under a neoliberal politics which uses the concept of development to requisition territory from indigenous people in order to exploit its natural resources. This is justified by qualifying these people as primitive because their way of life is based on living in equilibrium with nature. The function of a politically engaged artistic practise is to challenge the notion that no alternative exists to the current system. The theoretical and artistic framework of this investigation has led to the development of a performative alter ego, the transgender shaman Geyserbird, and to the configuration of a series of performances which included participatory rituals, installations with presence and the queer appropriation of abandoned industrial spaces. The transgender shaman is a spiritual being who goes beyond the limitations of the binary gender system and connects to indigenous cultures. The deployment of this figure in a contemporary context, invites the public to imagine other possibilities for themselves and for our society / Resum Natural Hysteria... e's una investigacio' basada en una pra¿ctica transdisciplina¿ria que documenta el proce's de produccio' d'un cicle de performances basades en el text: rituals, presentacions teatrals, acciones al carrers i presentacions de vi'deo, canc¿ons i tallers. E's una resposta arti'stica a la deteriorament del nostre medi ambient i els atacs contra la diversitat cultural i biolo¿gica que esta¿ duent a terme un sistema capitalista basat en l'acumulacio' de riquesa costi el que costi que ens esta¿ portant a la vora d'un col·lapse ecolo¿gic. Es procedeix a trave's d'una ana¿lisi d'altres pra¿ctiques arti'stiques dissidents que comparteixen una perspectiva queer, feminista, postcolonial o ecolo¿gica que les vincula amb els conceptes explorats en el meu treball per contextualitzar-ho en el camp expandit de les arts contempora¿nies. La "histe¿ria" alternativa que forma la base conceptual d'aquest projecte te' els seus inicis en les albors de l'edat moderna i trac¿a una histo¿ria de dominacio' dels "altres": se centra principalment en les dones, en el ge¿nere i en els dissidents sexuals, les persones de color i els animals. L'explotacio' dels recursos naturals i humans e's una consequ¿e¿ncia d'una cosmovisio' basada en l'establiment d'oposicions bina¿ries que permeten que l'"altre" sigui classificat i dominat. Per exemple: home / dona, blanc / negre, hetero / homosexual, cultura / naturalesa. La construccio' d'aquests "altres" - "femeni'", "natiu", "queer", "naturalesa" - exclou aquests subjectes de la construccio' d'una identitat dominant que, no obstant aixo¿, depe'n d'aquestes categories per a la seua existe¿ncia. En el Renaixement, els camps de les cie¿ncies i les humanitats no estaven separats. La visio' mecanicista del mo'n no havia superat per complet les creences paganes en la ma¿gia i en una forc¿a espiritual que resideix en tots els e'ssers. Aquesta visio' era una reli'quia de l'era precristiana i finalment seria eradicada per les forces unides de l'Estat i l'Esgle'sia a trave's dels processos de la Inquisicio', la cac¿a de bruixes, la colonitzacio' i la nova religio' de la "Cie¿ncia". Tots aquests processos han produi¿t un gran canvi en la nostra relacio' amb la naturalesa, que en l'actualitat es considera una entitat totalment inerta. La naturalesa ja no forma part del nostre e'sser i s'ha convertit simplement en mate¿ria preval. La colonitzacio' continua avui sota una poli'tica neoliberal que utilitza el concepte de desenvolupament per a requisar territori dels pobles indi'genes a fi d'explotar els seus recursos naturals. Aixo¿ es justifica classificant aquestes persones com a primitives perque¿ la seua manera de vida es basa en viure en equilibri amb la naturalesa. La funcio' d'una pra¿ctica arti'stica poli'ticament compromesa e's desafiar la nocio' que no existeix una alternativa al sistema actual. El marc teo¿ric i arti'stic d'aquesta investigacio' ha condui¿t al desenvolupament d'un alter ego performatiu, el xaman transge¿nere Geyserbird, i a la configuracio' d'una se¿rie de performances que inclou rituals participatius, instal·lacions amb prese¿ncia i la reapropiacio' queer d'espais industrials abandonats. El xaman transge¿nere e's un ser espiritual que va me's enlla¿ de les limitacions del sistema de ge¿nere binari i es connecta amb les cultures indi'genes. El desplegament d'aquesta figura en un context contemporani convida al pu'blic a imaginar altres possibilitats per a ells mateixos i per a la nostra societat. / Bell, G. (2018). NATURAL HYSTERIA (a queer response to ecocide): An exercise in Living Art, Participatory Rituals and Queer Ecology -or- How I discovered Geyserbird, the Transgender Shaman within [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/111925

[ES] Esta investigación doctoral parte de una serie de incomodidades e intuiciones en lo relativo a las lecturas contemporáneas acerca de la imagen pornográfica. Resulta habitual el abordaje de las mismas desde diferentes disciplinas, objetivos y marcos de análisis, pero pocas veces -o ninguna en nuestro contexto- la academia se ha detenido comprenderlas como productos culturales desde una perspectiva materialista, es decir, como objetos producto de la transformación material mediante la fuerza de trabajo de las corpo*realidades implicadas en su producción. Esta tesis está comprometida con la formulación de una investigación "desde abajo", es decir, planteándose la dimensión material de estas imágenes, indagando en las condiciones de sus agentes e infraestructuras, desplazando por un momento la mirada semiocentrada y los universos representacionales a los que se les supone una pertenencia. ¿Podemos pensar las imágenes en su dimensión material, objetual, histórica y ubicada en sus procesos de producción? Las tensiones entre universo simbólico y universo material poseen una posición central en el desarrollo de la investigación, trastocando los procesos habituales de observación, invirtiendo la mirada y situándonos así, desde abajo: yendo por el lado de las imágenes, de las trabajadoras que las crean, de las economías imaginales y materiales que se producen en las marginalidades de las buenas imágenes. Pues, ¿qué es la imagen pornográfica si no, una imagen marginalizada por un cierto sistema de valor? Para ello, el estudio situa discursiva, artística y metodológicamente dichas incomodidades e intuiciones, en diálogo constante con aquellos marcos y cuerpos que se han posicionado con mayor cercanía respecto al fenómeno de la pornografía: las teorías radicales del sexo, los estudios LGTBIQ+, los feminismos, los activismos de crítica cultural, las teorías del cine, la semiótica cinematográfica, la sociología o la antropología, entre otros. Estas relecturas críticas se han entretejido con el marco legislativo vigente, así como con otras voces o discursos "menos autorizados" en la cuestión de la imagen pornográfica como los nuevos materialismos, los análisis de políticas públicas pasados y presentes, las perspectivas marxistas hacia la imagen o las aportaciones desde las genealogías fem/femme. La tesis es, en este sentido, analítica -pues examina los diferentes terrenos y marcos en los que se dan estas producciones-, crítica -pues complejiza los discursos sedimentados a partir de torceduras y desviaciones de mirada- y radicalmente especulativa -pues no pierde de vista la posible y deseable imbricación con los movimientos de transformación social en la intersección entre las imágenes, la sexualidad y el trabajo. Así, la investigación se pregunta radicalmente por el qué pero también por el cómo, revisando de esta manera transversal e implicada las maneras en las que se hace emerger el conocimiento, o se producen sus marginalidades altamente feminizadas. La investigación se enmarca, además, en un momento socio-político, tecnológico y estético transicional y, por tanto, crítico en lo relativo a las políticas y rebeldías desde abajo hacia las formas de gestionar y regular no sólo las dimensiones materiales mediante el uso indiscriminado de argumentarios desentendidos de la naturaleza y de los procesos en la creación de imágenes, sino también de la propia relación onto-epistemológica que resignifica las relaciones entre el ver y el hacer como forma de gestión vertical de la materialidad de la vida de las imágenes, de sus trabajadoras y comunidades. / [CA] Aquesta investigació doctoral part d'una sèrie d'incomoditats i intuïcions quant a les lectures contemporànies sobre la imatge pornogràfica. Resulta habitual l'abordatge de les mateixes des de diferents disciplines, objectius i marcs d'anàlisis, però poques vegades -o cap en el nostre context- l'acadèmia s'ha detingut comprendre-les com a productes culturals des d'una perspectiva materialista, és a dir, com a objectes producte de la transformació material mitjançant la força de treball de les corpo*realitats implicades en la seua producció. Aquesta tesi està compromesa amb la formulació d'una investigació "des de baix", és a dir, plantejant-se la dimensió material d'aquestes imatges, indagant en les condicions dels seus agents i infraestructures, desplaçant per un moment la mirada semiocentrada i els universos representacionals als quals se'ls suposa una pertinença. Podem pensar les imatges en la seua dimensió material, objectual, històrica i situada en els seus processos de producció? Les tensions entre univers simbòlic i univers material posseeixen una posició central en el desenvolupament de la investigació, trastocant els processos habituals d'observació, invertint la mirada i situant-nos així, des de baix: anant pel costat de les imatges, de les treballadores que les creen, de les economies imaginales i materials que es produeixen en les marginalitats de les bones imatges. Perquè, què és la imatge pornogràfica si no, una imatge marginalitzada per un cert sistema de valor? Per a això, l'estudi situa discursiva, artística i metodològicament aquestes incomoditats i intuïcions, en diàleg constant amb aquells marcs i cossos que s'han posicionat amb major proximitat respecte al fenomen de la pornografia: les teories radicals del sexe, els estudis LGTBIQ+, els feminismes, els activismes de crítica cultural, les teories del cinema, la semiòtica cinematogràfica, la sociologia o l'antropologia, entre altres. Aquestes relectures crítiques s'han entreteixit amb el marc legislatiu vigent, així com amb altres veus o discursos "menys autoritzats" en la qüestió de la imatge pornogràfica com els nous materialismes, les anàlisis de polítiques públiques passats i presents, les perspectives marxistes cap a la imatge o les aportacions des de les genealogies fem/femme. La tesi és, en aquest sentit, analítica -perquè examina els diferents terrenys i marcs en els quals es donen aquestes produccions-, crítica -perquè complica els discursos sedimentats a partir de torçades i desviacions de mirada- i radicalment especulativa -perquè no perd de vista la possible i desitjable imbricació amb els moviments de transformació social en la intersecció entre les imatges, la sexualitat i el treball. Així, la investigació es pregunta radicalment pel quin però també pel com, revisant d'aquesta manera transversal i implicada les maneres en les quals es fa emergir el coneixement, o es produeixen les seues marginalitats altament feminitzades. La investigació s'emmarca, a més, en un moment soci-polític, tecnològic i estètic transicional i, per tant, crític quant a les polítiques i rebel·lies des de baix cap a les maneres de gestionar i regular, no sols les dimensions materials mitjançant l'ús indiscriminat d'argumentaris desentesos de la naturalesa i dels processos en la creació d'imatges, sinó també de la pròpia relació onto-epistemològica que resignifica les relacions entre el veure i el fer com a forma de gestió vertical de la materialitat de la vida de les imatges, de les seues treballadores i comunitats. / [EN] This doctoral research is based on several discomforts and intuitions regarding contemporary readings of the pornographic image. It is usual to approach them from different disciplines, objectives and frameworks of analysis, but rarely -or none, in our context- the academy has stopped to understand them as cultural products from a materialistic perspective, that is, as objects product of the material transformation through the labor force of the corpo*realities involved in their production. This thesis is committed to the formulation of an investigation "from below", that is to say, considering the material dimension of these images, investigating the conditions of their agents and infrastructures, displacing for a moment the semiocentric gaze and the representational universes to which they are supposed to belong. Can we think images in their material, objectual, historical dimension and located in their production processes? The tensions between symbolic universe and material universe have a central position in the development of the research, disrupting the usual processes of observation, inverting the gaze and thus situating us, from below: going on the side of the images, of the workers who create them, of the imaginary and material economies that are produced in the marginalities of the good images. For what is the pornographic image if not an image marginalized by a certain value system? To this end, the study situates discursively, artistically and methodologically these discomforts and intuitions, in constant dialogue with those frameworks and bodies that closer to the phenomenon of pornography: radical theories of sex, queer studies, feminisms, cultural criticism activisms, film theories, film semiotics, sociology or anthropology, among others. These critical re-readings have been interwoven with the current legislative framework, as well as with other "less authorized" voices or discourses on the issue of the pornographic image, such as the new materialisms, the analysis of past and present public policies, the marxist perspectives on the image or the contributions from the fem/femme genealogies. The thesis is, in this sense, analytical -as it examines the different terrains and frameworks in which these productions take place-, critical -as it complexifies the sedimented discourses from twists and deviations of gaze- and radically speculative -as it does not lose sight of the possible and desirable imbrication with the movements of social transformation at the intersection between images, sexuality and work. Thus, the research asks radically about the what but also about the how, reviewing in this transversal and involved way the ways in which knowledge is made to emerge, or its highly feminized marginalities are produced. The research is also framed in a transitional socio-political, technological and aesthetic moment and, therefore, critical in terms of politics and rebellions from below towards the ways of managing and regulating not only the material dimensions through the indiscriminate use of arguments disregarding the nature and processes in the creation of images, but also of the onto-epistemological relationship itself that resignifies the relations between seeing and doing as a form of vertical management of the materiality of the life of images, of their workers and communities. / Corrales Devesa, A. (2023). Por la imagen pornográfica. Infraestructuras, materialidades y corpo*realidades desde la perspectiva de sus trabajadoras [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/195839