Unmanageable Subjects: Trans Childhoods and the Struggle for Self-Determination at School
In the midst of “Don’t Say Gay” legislation banning early elementary school teachers from discussing gender and sexuality with their students, the United States is embroiled in controversy over the meaning of gender in civic life and education. In this presentation, I argue that trans people are positioned as unmanageable subjects within the context of K-12 schools in the United States. How might educators embrace unmanageability? What might it look like to practice civic education that resists rigidly scripting the world, including who children are allowed to be and become within it?
