Aren Aizura
Personal Information
Description
Aren Aizura is an assistant professor in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies. He brings expertise in queer theory, transgender studies, transnationality and immigration, and political economy and labor. Aizura earned a PhD in cultural studies from the University of Melbourne and before joining the University of Minnesota was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University. He also held a post-doctoral fellowship in Gender, Race and Science in the Department of Gender Studies at Indiana University.
Books
The t4t Issue
Originating in Craigslist personals to indicate a trans person seeking another trans person, the term “t4t” has come to describe not only circuits of desire and attraction but also practices of trans solidarity and mutual aid. Contributors to this issue investigate the multiple meanings associated with t4t, considering both its potential and its shortcomings. They explore forms of Black trans kinship, consider the possibilities and limits of trans crowdfunding, theorize transmasculine pornography as a site of identity formation, and critique t4t spaces that allow for abuse or exploitation. Because t4t names a type of separatism, it carries risks such as identity policing, the prioritization of one aspect of identity over others, and difficulty engaging in strategic coalition. And yet, in a world that remains hostile to trans forms of life, t4t also circulates as a promising practice of love, repair, and healing. Contributors. Cassius Adair, Aren Aizura, Cameron Awkward-Rich, Chris Barcelos, Cynthia Citlallín Delgado Huitrón, Lauren Fournier, Vox Jo Hsu, Christopher Joseph Lee, Amira Lundy-Harris, Hil Malatino, Amy Marvin, Isaac Preiss, Amir Rabiyah, Nicholas Reich
The Transgender Studies Reader 2
Over the past twenty years, transgender studies has emerged as a vibrant field of interdisciplinary scholarship. In 2006, Routledge’s The Transgender Studies Reader brought together the first definitive collection of the field. Since its publication, the field has seen an explosion of new work that has expanded the boundaries of inquiry in many directions. The Transgender Studies Reader 2 gathers these disparate strands of scholarship, and collects them into a format that makes sense for teaching and research. Complementing the first volume, rather than competing with it, The Transgender Studies Reader 2 consists of fifty articles, with a general introduction by the editors, explanatory head notes for each essay, and bibliographical suggestions for further research. Unlike the first volume, which was historically based, tracing the lineage of the field, this volume focuses on recent work and emerging trends. To keep pace with this rapidly changing area, the second reader has a companion website, with images, links to blogs, video, and other material to help supplement the book.
Language (Bound to Struggle, Volume 3)
Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet was a 'zine anthology from 2004-2011. > This issue’s theme is LANGUAGE, and most of the pieces included touch upon the theme in one way or another. I have been slightly looser in my choices in terms of what is, or is not, strictly political. Or what is, or is not, strictly kinky. I hope this choice helps bring in different kinds of readers, or readers with different interests, without alienating the more traditional readership. I have been happy to include more art, fiction, and entries with less formal narrative structure — thanks to those creators, especially, for submitting.