In her contribution to the “Sexuality & Gender Studies Now” series, Anne Esacove highlights the Trans Literacy Project (TLP) and its work at the University of Pennsylvania. Created by a group of students, activists, and scholars to cultivate and expand conversations on trans and gender inclusivity, the TLP hosted a series of events and workshops to bring to the forefront concerns and issues facing the trans community in academia. Esacove uses this opportunity to bolster the voices of the project’s participants. Six of the TLP conveners, Ava L.J. Kim, Davy Knittle, Kel Kroehle, Aylin Malcolm, Monique Perry, and Brooke Jamieson Stanley, summarize key points learned from the TLP experience, which can be used to enrich academic learning and provide a more inclusive experience for trans students and scholars.
Ava L.J. Kim
Ava L.J. Kim is a PhD candidate and Benjamin Franklin Fellow in English at the University of Pennsylvania. They earned a BA in creative writing at Macalester College where they also worked as a Mellon Mays Fellow and Frank Karel Fellow. Kim’s dissertation examines the discourse of “transition,” placing contemporary understandings of trans subjectivity in a longer history of national transitions to democracy in parts of the global South. Their work can be found in the journal American Studies.