What Can Trans Studies Teach Us About Translanguaging?

• In Event: Centering Trans Studies in Educational Research and Practice

Abstract

Translanguaging has risen to prominence in recent years as a theory designed to promote equity in language education. As the theory has gained more traction two contrasting perspectives have emerged. On the one side are those who frame translanguaging as an orientation to language that reveals the inherent heterogeneity of language and the ideological nature of all language borders (García et al, 2022). On the other side of these conversations have been scholars who label this perspective a deconstructive one that denies the ontological realness of languages and, by extension, the psychological realness of bi/multilingualism (Macsawn, 2022). The crux of the issue seems to be related to the political implications of deconstructing named languages with a specific focus on what possibilities it may open and what possibilities and what possibilities it may foreclose. Yet, despite sharing the same -trans prefix, it is only recently that scholars have begun to center trans experiences and perspectives in these debates (Knisely, 2023). In line with these important new developments in the field, in this paper I use insights from trans studies as a point of entry for developing a comprehensive approach to translanguaging in order to address this tension.

In the first half of the paper I examine the ways that trans studies scholars have sought to situate themselves in relation to both queer theory and cisnormativity. On the one hand, trans studies has identified potential dangers of the deconstructive tendencies of queer theory in marginalizing trans and nonbinary people by delegitimizing their personal narratives about their gender identities. On the other hand, trans studies has also pointed to inherent dangers of universalizing cisnormative framings of gender in erasing the existence of trans people (Keegan, 2020). In this way, the major political project of trans studies isn’t about deconstructing gender and claiming it doesn’t exist but rather about challenging the universalization of cisnormativity, which opens up spaces for trans and nonbinary people to narrate alternative gender identities.

In the second half of the paper I use these insights in efforts to resolve the current debates in translanguaging and the implications of this for educational research and practice. I argue that in line with trans studies, the major political project of translanguaging can be understood as not working toward deconstructing named languages in order to argue that they don’t exist but rather working to challenge the universalization of particular language naming practices, which opens up spaces for minoritized communities to narrate alternative languaging naming practices. I end with the implications of this perspective for transforming educational research and practice in ways that reject the ontological realness of language while also challenging cisnormativity pointing to the mutually reinforcing nature of these political projects that are often seen as separate struggles.

Author

• Nelson Flores, University of Pennsylvania