Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Gender as a Category of Knowledge

Adrian De Silva

PhD Project:

Negotiating the Borders of the Gender Regime: Constructing Transsexuality Prior To and During theLegislative Process Leading to the Transsexual Act and the Transsexual Law Reform Bill in the FederalRepublic of Germany

 De Silva

 

Description of the Project

 

 Using medical and legal literature, court decisions, and parliamentary debates, my dissertation examines how sexological and legal discourses and practices shaped normative knowledge on transsexuality, gender, and gender regime since the 1960s. In particular, I examine how the legislative and reform processes of the Transsexual Act further impacted those discourses, practices, and the resulting knowledge production. Using discourse analysis, my main questions are: (1) How were trans subjects constructed in medicine, law, and politics, as opposed to conventionally gendered subjects since the 1960s ? (2) What were the dynamics between medicine, law, and politics ? (3) What shifts took place within the gender binary ? The gender binary is framed within a queer concept of the state.
                                                   

Particulars

 

Adrian de Silva, studied sociology, political science, English language and literature and Canadian studies in Münster and Toronto, lecturer at the Universities of Bremen, Göttingen, Oldenburg and Vechta.
   

Selected Publications

 

Trans* in Sexualwissenschaft und Recht vor Inkrafttreten des Transsexuellengesetzes. In: Gender Turn. Gesellschaft jenseits der Geschlechternorm, hg. v. Christian Schmelzer, Bielefeld 2013. S. 81 – 104.

Vom Sittenverfall zur Trans*_Homo-Ehe. Ausgewählte juristische Entwicklungen zu Trans* in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In: trans*_homo. differenzen, allianzen, widersprüche. differences, alliances, contradictions, hg. v. Justin Time u. Jannik Franzen, Berlin 2012. S. 149 – 154.

Zur Normalisierung heteronormativer Zweigeschlechtlichkeit im Recht. Eine queere Analyse der Regulation des Geschlechtswechsels im Vereinigten Königreich. In: Kritische Justiz 40 (2008). S. 266 – 270.

Transsexualität im Spannungsfeld juristischer und medizinischer Diskurse. In: Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung 18 (2005). S. 258 – 271.
   

Contact