Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography (Hagiography Beyond Tradition, 2)

"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" -- Publisher's description This volume 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. This volume 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. Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Following the Traces. Reassessing the Status Quo, Reinscribing Trans and Genderqueer Realities 1 Assigned Female at Death 2 Inherited Futures and Queer Privilege 3 Juana de la Cruz 4 Non-Standard Masculinity and Sainthood in Niketas David’s Life of Patriarch Ignatios Peripheral Vision(s). Objects, Images, and Identities 5 Gender-Querying Christ’s Wounds 6 Illuminating Queer Gender Identity in the Manuscripts of the Vie de sainte Eufrosine 7 The Queerly Departed Genre, Gender, and Trans Textualities 8 St Eufrosine’s Invitation to Gender Transgression 9 Holy Queer and Holy Cure 10 The Authentic Lives of Transgender Saints Epilogue Appendix Index