Since the onslaught of trans-antagonistic executive orders in the wake of Trump’s second presidency\, references to G ermany’s trans* past have become ubiquitous\, with the destruction of Hirsc hfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science often being the main historical refere nce point. However\, this is certainly not the first incident in which Germ an history has been invoked as a cautionary tale in an argument about conte mporary trans* politics and life. As many other scholars have observed\, na rratives about the supposed trans* haven of the Weimar Republic ravaged by fascism have multiplied in recent years. In fact\, Germany has taken on a m ythical place in a collective trans* historical imaginary circulating on so cial 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 a t 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 Cen tral\, 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 Lis chetti Award for outstanding dissertations in the field of Gender Studies i n 2024. Their book Trans* Geschichten der Moderne (Trans* Hist ories of Modernity) is forthcoming with transcript in 2025. At CENES\, Jonah works on the project “Germany and the Trans Historical Imaginary: Af fective Reimaginations of the Transgender Past.” Together with Ervin Malaka j they have launched the DDGC Queer and Trans German Studies Research Coope rative aka The Pink Pony Club.
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