Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography

by Alicia Spencer-Hall (Editor), Blake Gutt (Editor)

Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography presents an interdisciplinary examination of trans and genderqueer subjects in medieval hagiography. Scholarship has productively combined analysis of medieval literary texts with modern queer theory – yet, too often, questions of gender are explored almost exclusively through a prism of sexuality, rather than gender identity. This volume moves beyond such limitations, foregrounding the richness of hagiography as a genre integrally resistant to limiting binaristic categories, including rigid gender binaries. The collection showcases scholarship by emerging trans and genderqueer authors, as well as the work of established researchers. Working at the vanguard of historical trans studies, these scholars demonstrate the vital and vitally political nature of their work as medievalists. Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography enables the re-creation of a lineage linking modern trans and genderqueer individuals to their medieval ancestors, providing models of queer identity where much scholarship has insisted there were none, and re-establishing the place of non-normative gender in history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, History, Medieval, Gender, Research, Christianity

342 pages, Hardcover

Published April 6, 2021

Reviews

[Ekmef · Rating 5 out of 5]

CW: (internalized) transphobia

As a trans or nonbinary person, every day you get the message 'you don't belong here, you shouldn't exist'. Eventually you start to feel like you're a mistake, a mutation. To counteract these ideas, it is essential to be able to connect yourself to a broader narrative, a world where you belong and where you are valued for who you are. Finding such a connection is hard in today's polarized discourse, especially when your very existence is considered a matter of debate. 

This volume with scientific essays on trans and genderqueer people and themes in medieval hagiography brings about a connection with the past I never knew was there. I'm not in the field of history but it's very readable (save for one essay that contained so many zombie nouns that it was unreadable) . The authors created a very solid framework in which they draw on established rigorous methods of inquiry grounded in queer and crip theory. 

Ok, that was the stuffy part of the review, it is so freaking amazing to read about saints queering their gender, about how Jesus was also super gender queer - OMG his side wound!! - the people in the Middle Ages held a lot more space for genderqueerness than many people nowadays. As this book is about hagiographies, it's about the people that were considered noteworthy exemplars - and apparently, it is totally saintly to change your gender expression to what you feel is right! That this isn't 'reading more into it than there is', is made clear by the urtext itself, all of them frequently affirm the genderqueer aspects - switching around pronouns, not drawing them as 'generic' AFAB or AMAB individuals, etc. 

I'm left with a sense of wonder and respect for the people in the Middle Ages who had such a rich relationship with their saints and how they created space for a lot of personal narratives, not just the white allocishet patriarchy shoved down our throats every day. 

[Eliott Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

gay angels <3

[Lucia Graziano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ci va già un bel coraggio, a ricomprendere nella categoria dei "trans e genderqueer" un personaggio come santa Caterina d'Alessandria, il cui comportamento eterodivergente risiede unicamente nel fatto di non volersi sposare sebbene i suoi sudditi premessero per avere un erede dalla loro regina (!). Una donna che nel Medioevo decide di rimanere nubile adesso è automaticamente da etichettarsi come trans genderqueer?

Ci va già un bel coraggio, dicevo, a fare certe affermazioni, e infatti gli autori ben si guardano dal farle: salvo qualche forzatura lessicale, più comica che scorretta, i saggi, in sé e per sé, sono tutti quanti piuttosto equilibrati. E, in alcuni casi, anche molto interessanti: si trova, nel mucchio, qualche storia curiosa che ti fa dire "beh, sì: ai giorni nostri, questo qua lo definiremmo effettivamente un travestito / un trans". E questa rimane comunque una constatazione che viene affidata alla sensibilità personale del lettore: gli storici fanno il loro lavoro di storico presentando le fonti agiografiche così come ci sono state consegnate attraverso i secoli, senza il tentativo di attualizzarle o di metter loro in bocca un messaggio diverso da quello che originariamente volevano mandare.

Peccato per il lavoro del titolista, verrebbe da dire: perché "Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography" è un titolo che risulta veramente forzato per una larga parte dei saggi presenti nel volume. Sicuramente è un titolo che vende; ma (stante che dubito molto che l'Amsterdam University Press sperasse di trasformare questo volume in un best seller), rimane al lettore quel vago senso di presa in giro, tipo "siamo tutti colleghi studiosi, al lavoro: perché mi devi far perdere tempo con un titolo che promette cose che il libro effettivamente non contiene?".

[Amelia Crowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

hit and miss but the hits are good

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of essays.

[Tynan Brooks]

Predictably mixed. Some neat stories and readings in here, but many essays feel forced, too.

[Luke]

Pub 2021