Papers by Amy Marvin
APA Studies on Feminism and Philosophy, 2024
This essay argues that trans philosophy - and perhaps philosophy more broadly - should be underst... more This essay argues that trans philosophy - and perhaps philosophy more broadly - should be understood according to the interplay of social, material, and emotional circulations. It opens by bridging insights from underemployed library work during the COVID-19 pandemic with Sara Ahmed’s analysis of the circulation of emotions in relation to texts and archives. The first major section diagnoses Martha Nussbaum’s confusing analysis of “the new trans scholarship” to establish that trans philosophy is differentially circulated across the discipline of philosophy. The second major section argues that trans philosophy can be understood through the interplay of four different circulations: (1) trans philosophy as creating a space; (2) trans philosophy as the trans question; (3) trans philosophy as the gender wars; and (4) trans philosophy as the trans cult. I conclude that trans philosophy is a field that has yet to clearly form as it continues to twist and multiply according to affect, professional dynamics, political intrigue, who gets thrown away, and who is granted the space, time, energy, and money to write and publish. Official link here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/D03EBDAB-82D7-4B28-B897-C050FDC1ACB4/FeminismV24n1.pdf
Blog of the American Philosophical Association, 2024
This essay looks at the history of confrontations between trans people and non-trans philosophers... more This essay looks at the history of confrontations between trans people and non-trans philosophers. It argues that trans contentions within philosophy should be considered alongside the intersection of transness with social class, patterns of anti-trans employment discrimination, affective injustice against trans employees, and the discipline of philosophy as an exclusive prestige-driven workplace. It concludes that philosophy should better study cis philosophers and the ways that they encounter trans people in the world, as colleagues, and as objects of inquiry.
One of the major concerns of Feminist Theory is the way in which women's ability to speak get... more One of the major concerns of Feminist Theory is the way in which women's ability to speak gets silenced, both in relation to sexist situations and to the way in which discourse itself is constructed. Some examples include Catherine MacKinnon's concern about the systematic silence of sexual harassment, 1 Deirdre Davis' concern about silencing through street harassment, 2 and Luce Irigaray's 3 and Monique Wittig's 4 concerns about the silence caused by the construction of discourse itself. Humor often reinforces silence, trivializing climates of sexism 5 and the act of pointing out the existence of patriarchal structures in society. 6 However, it also has been gestured to as a means of breaking silence and as coinciding with the self-articulation of women on their own terms. 7 What is the difference between silencing humor and humor that breaks silence? And what would it look like for humor to serve as a practice of feminist resistance? In this essay, I will argue ...
This dissertation examines humor as a situated practice of reappropriation and transformation und... more This dissertation examines humor as a situated practice of reappropriation and transformation undertaken by a subject within a social world. I bring together insights from humor studies, philosophy of humor, and feminist philosophy (especially feminist continental philosophy) to introduce the concept of humorwork as an unstable political practice of reappropriating and transforming existing images, speech, and situations. I argue that humorwork is an unstable politics because the practice of reappropriation and transformation often exceeds the intentions of the subject practicing humor, taking on a continued life beyond the humorist's intentions. By focusing on the practice of humor, the subject who produces it, their social and political world, the affects circulated through political humor, and the politics of popular and scholarly discourse about humor, I push against a reductive, depoliticized concept of humor and the trivializing gesture of "it's just a joke." Instead, I argue that humorists are responsible and connected to (if not always blameable) for the social and political life of their humorwork, despite the unstable and unpredictable uptake of humor against a humorist's intentions.
The Philosophy of Humor Yearbook, 2023
This essay argues that humor can be used as an unstable weapon against oppressive language and co... more This essay argues that humor can be used as an unstable weapon against oppressive language and concepts. Drawing from radical feminist Marilyn Frye, I discuss the difficulty of challenging systematic oppression from within and explore the capabilities of humor for this task. This requires expanding Cynthia Willett's and Julie Willett's approach to fumerism beyond affect to fully examine the work of humor in manipulating language, concepts, and imagery. For this expansion, I bring in research on feminist linguistics alongside other philosophers of political humor to consider the connection between humor and world-making. I then link this with feminist world-breaking through Monique Wittig's analysis of war machines and Trojan horses against heteropatriarchal language. Finally, I draw out the instability of humor as a war machine by investigating a bit where comedian Patti Harrison disguised herself as an official corporate brand platform to challenge the compulsory commodification of LGBTQ rights.
American Philosophical Association Newsletter on LGBTQ Issues in Philosophy, 2021
In this short essay I connect Perry Zurn’s work on curiosity with trans history, activism, and ar... more In this short essay I connect Perry Zurn’s work on curiosity with trans history, activism, and art to bridge trans curiosity with eco curiosity in the form of transecological curiosity. I discuss examples from trans art, literature, music, and ecopoetics.
Philosophy Compass, 2022
Over the past decades humor studies has formed an unprecedented interdisciplinary consolidation, ... more Over the past decades humor studies has formed an unprecedented interdisciplinary consolidation, connected with a consolidation in philosophy of humor scholarship. In this essay I focus specifically on feminist philosophy of humor as an area of study that highlights relationships between humor, language, subjectivity, power, embodiment, instability, affect, and resistance, introducing several of its key themes while mapping out tensions that can be productive for further research. I first cover feminist theories of humor as instability and then move to feminist theories of humor as generative of social relationships. Though I diagnose several tensions between these approaches that require further elaboration and discussion, I conclude that feminist philosophy of humor is a crucial area of humor research that focuses on systematic oppression, political engagement, embodiment, and affective ties.
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2020
In conversation with Emmett Harsin Drager and Andrea Long Chu's “After Trans Studies,” this c... more In conversation with Emmett Harsin Drager and Andrea Long Chu's “After Trans Studies,” this collaborative essay also turns to questions of field formation and the ethos of trans studies. Situating the growth of the field in the material conditions of precarity under which trans knowledge-workers work, the authors argue that trans studies can't be “over” because, in fact, it isn't yet here. Rather than viewing this as only a dismal proposition, however, they insist that the tenuousness of trans studies provides us with the opportunity to envision and enact more sustaining ways of being “in the field.”
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2022
This essay discusses short-circuited trans care by focusing on failures of t4t as an ethos both i... more This essay discusses short-circuited trans care by focusing on failures of t4t as an ethos both interpersonally and within particular trans scenes. The author begins by recounting an experience working at a bar/restaurant that appealed to its identity as a caring trans community space as part of its exploitation of trans workers. This dynamic inspires the main argument, that t4t can become an ethos of scenes and institutions beyond the interpersonal while short-circuiting practices of trans care. Short-circuited trans care is then traced to t4t by drawing from Hil Malatino's work on trans care and t4t, Kai Cheng Thom's work on community dynamics, and trans literature to argue that practices of t4t often include abuse, expulsion, and assumptive care. This short-circuited trans care is linked to trans scenes by discussing the ethos of t4t in the history of Topside Press and trans cultural production. The author does not condemn t4t and to this effect offers a critique of tethe...
American Philosophical Association Newsletter on LGBTQ Issues in Philosophy, 2019
In this essay I focus on trans literature as a source of knowledge expressed by trans women about... more In this essay I focus on trans literature as a source of knowledge expressed by trans women about care. Specifically, I discuss short stories by Casey Plett and Ryka Aoki as sources of knowledge about assumptive and futurebound practices of care. I begin by arguing that the work of Maria Lugones considers the spatial dimensions of love and that this suggests that care involves giving space to another on their own terms. I then turn to Plett’s story “Other Women” to unpack assumptive care as a short-circuited form of caring in which a relationship to the other on their own terms is closed off by transphobic assumptions. I contrast this with Plett’s story “Winning,” which describes a futurebound care in which another’s space is kept open, permitting action that allows them to flourish on their own terms. After this, I discuss Aoki’s “To the New World” as an engagement with both racist assumptive care and futurebound care aimed at self-care. I conclude that these stories provide a rich space for considering trans ethical knowledge about care. The essay is published here: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/collection/B4B9E534-A677-4F29-8DC9-D75A5F16CC55/LGBTQV19n1.pdf
Curiosity Studies: A New Ecology of Language, 2020
In this essay I consider the grounds of my suspicion about post-transgender tipping point curiosi... more In this essay I consider the grounds of my suspicion about post-transgender tipping point curiosity, especially when public interest in trans subjects seems to originate from an unprecedented place of acceptance. Specifically, I focus on a product I call “the curio” and a process of production I call “curiotization.” First, I unpack the curio as an object that is alienated from its context, history, and world, and through this removal becomes intensified as a site of curiosity. I then describe curiotization as the process through which people or groups of people become intensified subjects of curiosity. After tracing an implicit concern about curiosity in existing trans studies, I read the song “Walk on the Wild Side,” alongside María Lugones’s discussion of world traveling, as an example of curiotization. After this I turn to contemporary examples of curiotization in mass media journalism about trans women breastfeeding and the framework of the transgender tipping point. I conclude that one way that cultural production can attempt to avoid curiotization is through more complex, particular, contextual, and historicized engagements with trans subjects.
Accessible through this link: https://manifold.umn.edu/read/curiosity-studies/section/e2d69218-a80e-424c-b0f8-af4e1a01ac68?fbclid=IwAR1HEHBMXn55otMMpnfETlFGTYgm4GaP00SmH1zrRLH8u3aCAETDgTjJhsk
Related podcast interview: https://lynnborton.com/2019/10/16/curios-curiotizing-with-amy-marvin/
Contingent Magazine, 2019
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, 2018
This essay considers the dependency of trans youth by bridging transgender studies with feminist ... more This essay considers the dependency of trans youth by bridging transgender studies with feminist care ethics to emphasize a trans wisdom about solidarity through dependency. The first major section of the essay argues for reworking Sara Ruddick's philosophy of mothering in the context of trans and gender‐creative youth. This requires, first, stressing a more robust interaction among her divisions of preservative love, nurturance for growth, and training for acceptability, and second, creating a more nuanced account of “nature” in relation to nurturance for growth to avoid casting transition as contrary to a trans youth's healthy development. In the second major section of the essay, I depart from Ruddick's framework to emphasize the difference of care for trans youth by trans and/or queer communities and through mutual caregiving, stressing a trans wisdom about dependency and solidarity found in the work of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. Turning to Eva Feder Kittay's links between dependency work and equality, I argue that Rivera and Johnson's work contains a distinct knowledge derived from practice necessitating the connection between solidarity and dependency in particular communities. I then call for more work on trans care ethics, trans ethics, and trans wisdom more broadly.
This is an author pre-print. Please cite the version published in:
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist... more This is an author pre-print. Please cite the version published in:
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
Hypatia
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
... more Hypatia
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
This essay examines narratives of fundamental change, which portray a break in the continuity bet... more This essay examines narratives of fundamental change, which portray a break in the continuity between a pre-transition and post-transition transgender subject, in accounts of transgender transitions. Narratives of fundamental change highlight the various changes that occur during transition and its disruptive effects upon a trans subject’s continuous identity. First, this essay considers the historical appearance of fundamental change narratives in the social sciences, the media, and their use by families of trans people, partners of trans people, and trans people themselves. After this is a consideration of Mark Johnson’s account of narrative as a meaning-making activity that occurs in the context of social norms. Johnson’s account is then applied to narratives of fundamental change to explain why these narratives occur, especially in relation to social norms and lived experience. The essay concludes by considering the trajectory of fundamental change narratives, looking at emerging transgender narratives, which stress a more integrated, complex account of transgender lives.
Original citation:
Billingsley, Amy (2015) "Technology and Narratives of Continuity in Transgender Experiences," Feminist Philosophy Quarterly: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fpq/vol1/iss1/6
Teaching Documents by Amy Marvin
Since Time magazine declared 2014 the “Transgender Tipping Point” and Caitlyn Jenner graced the c... more Since Time magazine declared 2014 the “Transgender Tipping Point” and Caitlyn Jenner graced the cover of Vanity Fair in 2015, the subjects of trans, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, transsexual, and more have been framed with a heightened “moment” of visibility often associated with representation and progress. However, this visibility has not stopped the persistent violence experienced by trans people, and narratives of trans “progress” often neglect trans histories and differences across trans populations.
In this course we will look at the present moment of heightened trans visibility through the lenses of history, institutions, cultural production, and activism to gain a richer understanding of the past and future of trans, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and transsexual people. Course materials will range from high academic theory to poetry, interviews, literature, podcasts, zines, Internet posts, video games, and films to introduce students to a range of perspectives on trans experiences, their pasts, and their futures.
Book Reviews by Amy Marvin
The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy presents an exciting, comprehensive, and original ... more The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy presents an exciting, comprehensive, and original pluralist presentation of feminist philosophy that is a much-needed update to existing feminist philosophy companions. Students, scholars, independent researchers, and departments interested in feminism and philosophy would do well to make sure they have access to this volume, and it should be a relevant resource for years to come. Reviewing such an expansive presentation of feminist philosophy across differences also raises considerations about the meanings and limits of pluralism and inclusion in feminist philosophy as an ongoing collective project.
Link to review: http://hypatiareviews.org/reviews/content/356
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Papers by Amy Marvin
Accessible through this link: https://manifold.umn.edu/read/curiosity-studies/section/e2d69218-a80e-424c-b0f8-af4e1a01ac68?fbclid=IwAR1HEHBMXn55otMMpnfETlFGTYgm4GaP00SmH1zrRLH8u3aCAETDgTjJhsk
Related podcast interview: https://lynnborton.com/2019/10/16/curios-curiotizing-with-amy-marvin/
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
Original citation:
Billingsley, Amy (2015) "Technology and Narratives of Continuity in Transgender Experiences," Feminist Philosophy Quarterly: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fpq/vol1/iss1/6
Teaching Documents by Amy Marvin
In this course we will look at the present moment of heightened trans visibility through the lenses of history, institutions, cultural production, and activism to gain a richer understanding of the past and future of trans, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and transsexual people. Course materials will range from high academic theory to poetry, interviews, literature, podcasts, zines, Internet posts, video games, and films to introduce students to a range of perspectives on trans experiences, their pasts, and their futures.
Book Reviews by Amy Marvin
Link to review: http://hypatiareviews.org/reviews/content/356
Accessible through this link: https://manifold.umn.edu/read/curiosity-studies/section/e2d69218-a80e-424c-b0f8-af4e1a01ac68?fbclid=IwAR1HEHBMXn55otMMpnfETlFGTYgm4GaP00SmH1zrRLH8u3aCAETDgTjJhsk
Related podcast interview: https://lynnborton.com/2019/10/16/curios-curiotizing-with-amy-marvin/
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
Special Issue: Emancipation, Summer 2015
Volume 30, Issue 3, pages 597–612, Summer 2015
Eve Sedgwick critiques paranoid methodologies for denying a plurality of affective approaches. Instead, she emphasizes affects such as hope, but her description of hope's openness does not address how hope can avoid discourses that appear to offer amelioration while deceptively masking subjugation. In this context, I will argue that suspicion in feminist political philosophy, as shown in the earlier work of Carole Pateman and Judith Butler, provides a cautious approach toward hope's openness without precluding hope altogether. This analysis will reconsider the domination and empowerment debates in relation to affect, pointing toward compatibilities between the two perspectives. First, I will expand Sedgwick's analysis of hope to explain its potential as a feminist political affect. Second, I will examine the techniques of suspicion employed by Pateman and Butler and how they risk denying possibilities for hope. This will lead to a discussion of how Amy Allen's theory of power indicates that suspicion is compatible with hope. Finally, I will explain how the suspicious approaches of Pateman and Butler illuminate hope as an inherently risky, fragile project. This will show that suspicion does not necessarily take up the totalizing position of paranoia, but rather can productively ensure that hope is not led astray.
Original citation:
Billingsley, Amy (2015) "Technology and Narratives of Continuity in Transgender Experiences," Feminist Philosophy Quarterly: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fpq/vol1/iss1/6
In this course we will look at the present moment of heightened trans visibility through the lenses of history, institutions, cultural production, and activism to gain a richer understanding of the past and future of trans, transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and transsexual people. Course materials will range from high academic theory to poetry, interviews, literature, podcasts, zines, Internet posts, video games, and films to introduce students to a range of perspectives on trans experiences, their pasts, and their futures.
Link to review: http://hypatiareviews.org/reviews/content/356