Never Been To Berlin

Way back, Oliva Espín asked me if I'd like to convene a symposium composed of international scholars on transgender identities within cultural contexts for the XXIX International Congress of Psychology. I said, "Yes! Thank you." The symposium with the title, "Decolonizing transgender psychology: Transgender identities and issues within cultural contexts" was accepted and now we're on our way to Berlin in July. Below is the description of our symposium and the wonderful participants from all over the world and right here at home:

Clive Aspin, University of Auckland, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand
Oren Gozlan, Toronto Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Toronto, Canada
Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Wells College, Aurora, New York, USA
Offer Maurer, The Israeli Branch of Derby University UK, Tel Aviv, Israel
Vic Muñoz, Wells College, Aurora, New York, USA

Culture is central to understanding transgender people in ways that move beyond the dominant white Western views of what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Through research which focuses on the interactions between gender, sexuality, and culture within decolonizing movements (Maori, Native Hawaiian) and research that critiques the hegemony of Western views on gender we will address transgender identities and issues in ways that offer new understandings of LGBT people of color (psychoanalytical, culturally appropriate, as critique of the dominant). Research shows culturally grounded approaches are needed to support the self-determination of LGBT peoples across cultures.


For more information on the conference, click on the title of this post above.