Transcending Bersani： The Possibility of Transreading in Bersani’s Queer Theory

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  • ベルサーニをトランスする ─ベルサーニのクィア理論における トランスリーディングの可能性
  • ベルサーニをトランスする : ベルサーニのクィア理論におけるトランスリーディングの可能性
  • ベルサーニ オ トランス スル : ベルサーニ ノ クィア リロン ニ オケル トランスリーディング ノ カノウセイ

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Abstract

This paper aims to articulate a transgender standpoint within the queer theory of Leo Bersani. Although some theorists have criticized Bersani’s queer theory for centering cisgender gay men, some implications of his theories may extend to transgender issues. In the first section of the paper, I offer a transgender reading of Bersani’s　interpretations of Freudian sexual theory in Freudian Body. This reading shows that Bersani’s sexual theory includes structures of sexuality that transgender people may experience. In the second section of the paper, I deal with Bersani’s theory of relationality, which he calls “homoness”. In Homos, he tries to discuss how people can connect without oppressing one another. To that end, he shows the value of relations of sameness, in opposition to the otherness of heterosexual relationality. Although Bersani sees homosexual relationality, or “homoness”, as the realization of these relations of sameness, he extends this beyond homosexual relationality, and it is therefore possible to apply it to transgender relationality. In the third section of the paper, I embody Bersani’s theory of homoness through Gayle Salamon’s theory of transgender relationality, “homoerratics”. Homoerratics describes a kind of transgender homoeroticism, and is therefore pertinent to the realization of homoness. In the final section of the paper, through analyzing the narrative of transgender person, I demonstrate that Bersani’s theory, which has been highlighted in this paper, can theoretically capture the structure of positive relationality among transgender people. And from this point, I point out the significance of applying his theory to transgender studies.

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