An exploration of trans* kinship as a strategy for student success

Abstract

Although the notion of queer kinship has been well discussed within literature on queer individuals, it has not been used as a lens to make sense of how trans* college students successfully navigate rigidly gender dichotomous collegiate environments. Using interview data from the National Study of LGBTQ Student Success, this study explores the narratives of 18 trans* students concerning their experiences of success in college and the role of queer kinship in supporting their success. Analysis documented three domains of kinship (i.e. material, virtual, and affective), which promoted students’ success.

Keywords:

• Transgender
• resilience
• kinship
• qualitative research

Notes

1. The asterisk in the term ‘trans*’ is used ‘to open up transgender or trans to a greater range of meanings’ (Tompkins, 2014, p. 26, italics in original). Originally used as a way to perform searches for any terms that shared a common prefix (e.g. trans) but had any number of suffixes, the asterisk has become a way to represent the capaciousness of the transgender community. Although it has not yet gained wide acceptance in scholarly literature, we as authors use it as a textual reminder of the diversity within the trans* population.

2. Genderism is the distinct system of oppression from sexism in that it references the ways one’s gender identity, expression, and/or embodiment is regulated through normative understandings of the gender binary, whereas sexism defines the privileging of one sex (i.e. male) over other sexes (i.e. female, intersex). The two terms are related, as gender and sex are often (incorrectly) presumed to be linked (e.g. someone assigned a female sex at birth is presumed to be feminine), but represent distinct systems of oppression with unique histories, political trajectories, and sociocultural manifestations.