Juliet Jacques: Forms of Resistance in Trans Life Writing

led by Beth Bramich

This event focuses on writer and filmmaker Juliet Jacques, and her writing on the possibilities for trans representation in life writing. It includes an introductory talk by Jacques and an out-loud reading from her 2017 article, ‘Forms of Resistance: Uses of Memoir, Theory, and Fiction in Trans Life Writing’. 

 'Forms of Resistance' explores how trans-identified authors have used fiction, or a blurring of boundaries between autobiography and fiction, to resist some of the structural and social limits of trans life writing. The essay goes on to discuss representations of trans people and transphobia in mainstream media in the United Kingdom, including Juliet's own experience of autobiographical writing in a newspaper blog and a memoir, and how authors might use a greater variety of fictional (in addition to or instead of autobiographical) techniques to explore a wider range of gender positions.

Reading

Together, in small online groups, we will read ‘Forms of Resistance: Uses of Memoir, Theory, and Fiction in Trans Life Writing,’ 2017, in the journal Life Writing, 14:3, pp.357-370,

You can find a link to the reading here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-JTtZW0M_B7vxLVeJN2qe08m69gnCgc6/view?usp=sharingRegistration

Registration

If you would like to take part in this online reading group, and receive a copy of the text, please register by November 23rd by emailing feministduration.com.

This online meeting will be divided into three parts. 1. Introductions to the session from the author, the organisers, and from all online participants 2. Out loud readings in small online groups. 3. Return to group meeting to share insights and perspectives coming out of reading groups.

Feminist Duration

This session is led by Beth Bramich as part of the Feminist Duration series, organised by the Feminist Duration Reading Group. Through a focus on out-loud collective reading, these events explore under-known and under-valued texts, movements, and collective practices from earlier moments of feminist activity alongside current urgencies. By restoring material texture to overlooked political and cultural movements, the programme seeks to resist versions of the past that reduce feminist struggle to one-dimensional stereotypes. Looking to activate the past’s nascent potential, participants identify tools that can inspire and enrich further collective action, promoting the intergenerational exchange of knowledge and experience. While honouring earlier feminisms, the series also highlights how collaboration, difference, and dissent have characterised previous feminist activity, and how feminists have both negotiated, and failed to significantly attend to, differences between themselves.

Feminist Duration is generously supported by the CHASE Doctoral Training Partnership.