Tufts University offering ‘Transcestors’ course next semester
Two concepts for the course will be trans oppression and trans erasure.
Other things included in the course description are book bans, transgender-identifying people playing in sports, and “access to trans-related healthcare.”
Tufts University is offering students a chance to study transgender-identifying persons throughout history in a course called “Transcestors: Trans History, Narrative & Influence” next semester.
According to the description, the course will prompt students with questions such as “How have transgender people been systematically misused, misunderstood, co-opted, and erased throughout history?.”
The description continues to provide the premise of the course which will include the oppression of transgender-identifying people and so-called trans erasure.
“In this course, we’ll look at several notable examples of trans existence throughout time and place, their relative oppressions, and how these situations have altered cis perceptions of trans people in the modern day,” it says.
“We’ll additionally look at how these erasures of history have influenced the current mass markets of entertainment (including literature, movies, sitcoms, and stand-up comedy), the deliberate attacks on U.S. trans rights over the past decade (such as book bans, participation in sports, and access to trans-related healthcare), and the impact of of these attacks on cis people alongside trans people,” it continues.
Milo Todd is the listed professor for the class. He is the “co-editor-in-chief at Foglifter Journal, runs The Queer Writer newsletter, and teaches creative writing primarily to queer and trans adults.”
Tufts University’s Experimental College at the School of Arts and Sciences is offering the “Transcestors course.”
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On its about page, the College describes itself as “dedicated to innovation and collaborative learning and teaching. Students are exposed to subjects and teachers beyond traditional classrooms and discover possibilities they never could have imagined.”
Campus Reform has reported several examples of colleges and universities looking at history through a transgender lens recently. For example, Boston University’s English Department is offering a graduate-level course next semester called “Medieval Trans Studies.”
“Expect to read about alchemical hermaphrodites, genderfluid angels, Ethiopian eunuchs, trans saints, sex workers, and genderqueer monks,” the course description says. “We will consider together how these medieval texts speak to the historical, theoretical, and political concerns that animate contemporary trans studies.”
Campus Reform contacted Tufts University, the Experimental College, and Milo Todd for comment, asking what they hope students get from the course. Campus Reform also requested a syllabus or reading list for the course. This story will be updated accordingly.
