Structural Transphobia: The Organizational Hauntings of Gender Normativity in Higher Education

• In Event: Research In Progress Roundtables Session 4
  In Invited Roundtable: LGBTQ Studies in Education Research: Inclusion, Identity, Gender Normativity, and Housing Insecurity (Table 8)

Abstract

This project examines structural transphobia as raced-gendered hauntings within higher education. Drawing from Gordon’s (2008) hauntings and Nicolazzo’s (2017) gender binary discourse, hauntings as structural transphobic processes are sensorial manifestations of ideological power and institutional violence. These hauntings shape the organizational environments of college campuses, profoundly impacting the affective experiences of trans and non-binary community members. To explore these dynamics, the author conducted a 6-week focus group study alongside five undergraduate trans and non-binary students of color. Photovoice was employed to document their experiences. Preliminary findings reveal the following hauntings: Greek Life, campus police, and administrative resistance as disciplinary presences, student support centers as spaces of ideological compliance or critical consciousness, and campus grounds host spectral embodiments of interpersonal violence.

Author

• CG C. Gobuyan, University of Arizona