Multiplicity and Contradiction: A Literature Review of Trans* Studies in Religion

As trans* studies gains traction in gender and feminist studies, it has also begun to inflect the academic study of religion. This essay serves as a literature review of trans* studies in religion to date, beginning with a brief overview of trans* studies' nascence. Kelly then focuses on five main areas of trans* studies in religion: biographical study, autotheoretical analysis, critiques of cultural imperialism's impact on gender, work on intersex, and gender theory and its applications. The author encounters multiple texts within each subsection, giving a breadth of the work available, alongside questions of where each could go next, as well as potential pitfalls that come from such an approach. Kelly ends with a pitch for trans* studies in religion to pay close attention to multiplicity and contradiction, notions by no means new to the study of religion more broadly.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jfemistudreli.34.1.03

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