Time for yet another essay on Transgender Marxism

This essay marks the halfway point!

The PDF is here - https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-07-15_60f0b3d5edcb7_jules-joanne-gleeson-transgender-marxism-1.pdf

The Intro Discussion with links to all previous essay discussions is here - https://lemmygrad.ml/post/395378

If you’re unsure what this post is: I’m leading a discussion group in real life on Intersectional Marxist Transfeminism, and I thought some of my comrades on the Internet may be interested in reading this essay collection as well.

This will be my initial read-through and note-taking. I hope to spark a discussion, or at least for us to learn something new together. So feel free to add comments and ask questions <3

Today’s essay is Queer Workerism Against Work: Strategising Transgender Labourers, Social Reproduction & Class Formation by Kate Doyle Griffiths.

Kate Doyle Griffiths is an anthropologist at City University of New York’s Graduate Center, a lecturer at Brooklyn College, and co-chair Red Bloom in New York City. Kate is an editor of Spectre. They are an ethnographer who writes about Southern Africa and the USA, workers, strikes, health and medicine, gender, Queers, race, class, Marxism and what is to be done.

Edit: the discussion continues with the next essay, by Farah Thompson, here - https://lemmygrad.ml/post/417377

  • Seanchaí (she/her)@lemmygrad.mlOPM
    2·
    2 years ago

    Alright, the last bit about queer anti-apartheid activists in South Africa was pretty good. There were some points earlier that were interesting. But in general the main thesis of the essay was that queer people should do labour organising alongside cis people, which is obvious to say the least.

    I appreciate some of the sentiment–the assertion that class reductionists are inherently missing the point by not understanding the radicalisation potential of intersectional organising. I agree there.

    I wouldn’t recommend this essay in particular, but I also wouldn’t dis-recommend it. I personally won’t be seeking out anymore of Griffiths’ writing on this subject, though I am a little intrigued on their specialisation in South Africa.

    Thanks for reading along! <3