We cordially invite you to the third installment of the Trans*formations talk series organized by the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy, which provides insights into recent developments in trans* philosophizing.

This time, Eric Llaveria Caselles, currently working at the Center for Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies (ZIFG) at the Technical University Berlin, will give a talk titled "Epistemic Violence and Trans Theory. A Cartography of Minor Truths."

When: Friday, October 18th 2024 15:00 - 16:30

Where: HS 3B, 3. Stock Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien

Abstract:

For the transsexual subject to be able to emerge as a source of credible speech, a fundamental critique of the western epistemic and symbolic order had to gain traction. When Susan Stryker stood up at a Lesbian and Gay History conference in New York in 1995 and yelled “I am a transsexual and I am not sick!”, she reclaimed the participation of the transsexual intellectual in the production of truths, refuting discourses of dehumanization. This inaugural scene of Trans Studies places the undoing of epistemic violence as both a precondition and a fundamental commitment of trans theoretical practice.

But what does this commitment to emancipatory forms of knowledge production entail? What are the contradictions of aspiring to anti-normative purity? What conversations can we build on the repeated condemnation of those reproducing symbolic violence? Does this commitment not miss the practical reason of cultural narratives? And is it possible to separate the epistemic violence from our sense of self, our needs and desires? Do the voices of trans people really hold the key to an emancipatory meaning? And if we betray the idea that we just need to let trans people speak, what then can hold the possibility of undoing epistemic violence?

In this talk, I reflect on these questions based on my own research trajectory, which spans topics such as trans subcultural spaces, neuroscientific studies of (trans)gender identity and trans social reproduction in global capitalism. The talk traces the shifts of my theoretical practice by building a personal cartography of minor truths. I take the term “minor truths” from the title of a show by the artist Spence Messih. Their glasswork compositions and philosophical considerations introduce a phenomenological sensibility in my analysis, inspiring me to search for a language that reflects the inseparability of theoretical standpoint from affective states, social relationships and political conjunctures. In conversation with Messih’s work, the talk evolves in a non-linear motion connecting five modes of epistemic experience: abstraction, vulnerability, praxeology, dialogue and betrayal.

Bio:

Eric Llaveria Caselles is a PhD Candidate at the Center for Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies (ZIFG) at the Technical University Berlin. His recent publications explore the limitations of gender identity positivism and queer deconstructivism as the two main approaches to trans theory. His research builds on current trans Marxist proposals and historical materialist traditions of gender theory to set the groundwork for an alternative framework in Trans Studies.

Poster Art Work credit: Spence Messih, Minor truths, 2022; Kiln formed glass, jarrah; Install: Murray Art Museum Albury | Commissioned by Murray Art Museum Albury | Collection: Art Gallery of NSW & Murray Art Museum Albury | Photo: Jeremy Weihrauch