Tuesday, March 11, 2025
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Buchanan Tower, Room 997, 1873 East Mall, UBC Vancouver
Or register to attend over Zoom
Since the onslaught of trans-antagonistic executive orders in the wake of Trump’s second presidency, references to Germany’s trans* past have become ubiquitous, with the destruction of Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science often being the main historical reference point. However, this is certainly not the first incident in which German history has been invoked as a cautionary tale in an argument about contemporary trans* politics and life. As many other scholars have observed, narratives about the supposed trans* haven of the Weimar Republic ravaged by fascism have multiplied in recent years. In fact, Germany has taken on a mythical place in a collective trans* historical imaginary circulating on social media and activist discourse as well as in cultural productions across the global North. In my talk, I explore the formation of these narratives, how they become activated in contemporary discourses, and ask what is at stake within these imaginations of the past.
Speaker Bio:
Jonah I. Garde (they/them) is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-26) at the Department for Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies (CENES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to joining UBC, Jonah received their PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Bern and was awarded the Barbara Lischetti Award for outstanding dissertations in the field of Gender Studies in 2024. Their book Trans* Geschichten der Moderne (Trans* Histories of Modernity) is forthcoming with transcript in 2025. At CENES, Jonah works on the project “Germany and the Trans Historical Imaginary: Affective Reimaginations of the Transgender Past.” Together with Ervin Malakaj they have launched the DDGC Queer and Trans German Studies Research Cooperative aka The Pink Pony Club.