Learning without subjects?: Considering trans pedagogies in practice

Abstract

Historically, state-regulated compulsory schooling has been a staging ground for the subjection of learners into categories of differential worth: race, gender, intellectual ability, class, and beyond. Yet, what might it look like to consider learning without subjection and subjugation? Here, Keenan draws from trans studies to consider how trans pedagogies contribute to the project of envisioning education beyond subjection. Presenting data from 11 one-on-one interviews with educators and artists from within or close to trans communities whose work takes place primarily beyond schools, Keenan argues that trans pedagogies resist the creation of a calcified subject, “sliding away from deteriminancy” (Aizura et al., p. 128) by emphasizing dialogic and relational approaches to learning, artistic expression, and attention to the carceral structures that govern gender in the Global North.