REGISTRATION: Trans* Research Association of Ireland’s First Annual Symposium

Other Conferences

31st October – 1st November2024

University College Dublin, Ireland

Registration is now open to attend the hybrid ‘Trans* Research Association of Ireland First Annual

Symposium’ taking place in University College Dublin, Ireland, on 31st October – 1st November 2024

This interdisciplinary symposium aims to forge connections between trans theory internationally and Irish iterations thereof. Ireland occupies a particular space in the context of transness. While Ireland has meaningful gender recognition legislation based on the principle of self-declaration, Ireland also has the most inaccessible gender-affirming healthcare in Europe, with waitlists of over 10 years for adults and no service provision for young people and children. In response, many Irish trans people DIY their healthcare and foster vital, generative, and even exciting community responses to the deeply political gatekeeping organised by the Irish State. Additionally, Ireland’s gender and sexual politics exist in the aftermath of British colonial rule and have been shaped by the enmeshment between the Irish State and the Catholic Church. Moreover, like many trans people throughout the world, Irish trans people continue to attempt to negotiate their lifeworlds in response to an increasingly hostile socio-political landscape defined by apathy and neoliberalism.

This symposium will consist of scholars considering transness in an Irish context and beyond, looking both forward to a new, queerer future and back at the pre-existing but sometimes unexcavated narratives of trans (Irish) pasts. Key thematic areas of exploration include:

  • Trans theory abroad and trans theory in Ireland
  • Trans theory beyond dominant strands
  • Methodological approaches to the study of international transness
  • Trans readings of established canons
  • Trans ‘canon’, trans poetics, and trans composition
  • Intersectional approaches to trans studies and other fields of study
  • The role of institutions in shaping transness and gender
  • DIY healthcare practices; forms of underground community and solidarity
  • Transness and neoliberalism
  • Colonial legacies of gender
  • Creative work engaging with transness
  • Non-Western gender and/or ‘third gender’ practices

Our conference will present a Keynote from Professor Hil Malatino, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University and an after party on the 1st of November. 

The full conference programme will be released shortly.

You can register to attend the conference by clicking here to register. The conference is free to attend. 

If you have questions or would like to communicate your accessibility needs or desires please contact the conference organising team at transresearchireland@gmail.com.