Captive Genders, second edition

captive genders

CG_ExpandedEdition2_web(2)We are so excited that AK Press will be publishing the second, revised, and expanded edition of Captive Genders in October 2015. Along with all the brilliance of the first edition, it will include a new foreword by abolitionist and trans revolutionary CeCe McDonald which explores the importance radical books like Captive Genders played for her during her incarceration. From her prison cell, Chelsea E. Manning wrote “On the Intersection of the Military and the Prison Industrial Complex,” which thinks about the relationship between and military and the prison system. TGIJP Executive Director Janetta Johnson and journalist Toshio Meronek wrote, “Custody’s Long Shadow: Reentry Support as Abolitionist Work,” which argues that supporting people after they are released is vital to abolition. Radical Native transgender activist-scholar Kalaniopua Young wrote, “From a Native Trans Daughter: Carceral Refusal, Settler Colonialism, Re-routing the Roots of an Indigenous Abolitionist Imaginary,” which brings into focus the unsettled histories of colonialism, forced gender normativity, and prison.

The powerful analysis and compelling arguments in this collection force readers to conclude that the political and theoretical connection between prison abolition and trans and queer liberation is fundamental to social transformation and justice. –Beth E. Ritchie author of Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation

Captive Genders reminds and instructs that life is about relationships and desires free from neglect and repression, gendered constraints, policing and brutality, and disappearance. The anthology contributors share transformational insights, mini-memoirs, analyses and theories about captivity. Their writings lead and nurture us to a deeper understanding and struggle for justice with freedom and peace.  –Joy James, author of Seeking the Beloved Community

 Captive Genders is an essential book that brings home that trans and gender non-conforming lives are deeply structured by the prison, that violence can never be an antidote to violence, that abolition must extend to the gender binary, and that formerly incarcerated Black trans women will lead the way. –Jin Haritaworn, author of Queer Lovers and Hateful Others: Regenerating Violent Times and Places

We will be doing a few book related events to celebrate the second edition. If you would like to help bring us to your city/town hit us up at captivegenders@gmail.com

captive genders

I was lucky to have been a part of two historic panels featuring the brilliance of CeCe McDonald, Reina Gossett, Janetta Johnson, and Miss Major. The audio link for the “Futures of Abolition” panel at the ONE Archive in LA is here, the video for the event at UCSD is here.

In other news,  Kameelah Janan Rasheed  recently interviewed me for a piece called The Carceral State which appeared in the California issue of The New Inquiry. Here we talk about prison abolition, Prop 47 and how prisons produce the fiction of binary genders.

captive genders

lgbt_15th_posterChris Vargas and I will be in Chicago at UIC on Thursday October 17th for a screening of Criminal Queers. The event is at 6pm Gallery 400 Lecture Room 400 S. Peoria Street Chicago, IL. As always, the event is free and open to everyone.

On Tuesday November 4th I’ll be in conversation with CeCe McDonald, Reina Gossett, Janetta Johnson, for the event “We Cannot Live Without Our Lives: A conversation on Anti-blackness, Trans Resistance and Prison Abolition” The event is from 7-9pm at UC San Diego Student Services Center Multipurpose Room. Criminal Queers_2－4

On Wendsday November 5th I’ll be part of “Futures of Abolition: Trans and Queer Resistance Against the Prison Industrial Complex”also with the amazing CeCe McDonald, Reina Gossett, Janetta Johnson. The evnt is free and open to the public and is at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives 909 West Adams Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90007

Keynote Panel

captive genders

I’m looking forward to being part of the keynote panel along with Patrick Anderson and Dylan Rodríguez for the Foucault and Madness conference Sept 26th, 2014 at California State University San Marcos.

Here if their writeup about the panel:

“Our Prison Industry has a Complex: the Irresistible Police State”

We are proud to present a keynote panel that is diverse in its knowledge about police, surveillance, and incarceration. Given their research into racist state violence, hunger strikes, and the treatment of incarcerated trans and queer bodies, these seasoned scholars will be tackling the central prison-industry-complex issues of our day, including: the elimination of spaces for protest, police tactics and norms, and the “best practices” of privatizing police.

New writing

captive genders

TSQ_new_prThe inaugural issues of the  journal TSQ:Transgender Studies Quarterly was just launched in which I have a short keyword for “Gender Self-determination.” My piece is available to download as a pdf here. I was also recently a part of a roundtable for Public Books on the show Orange is the New Black. My contribution “Abolition and Trans Resistance” thinks about the political possibilities of our moment while still wanting more than only representational change. Finally, Toshio Meronek and I wrote “Unintended and Anti-Social Consequences of Social Media Use” for truthout about social media and the catastrophic consequences for the Bay Area.