Putting the Trans in Transborder
The "trans" of transborder does not solely indicate the crossing of a geopolitical border but the crossing of all borders. EDT member micha cardenas sees one of her roles on the project as bringing out the relationship between the immigrant crossing from one country to the another and the gendered person crossing from one sex to another. That relationship is strengthened when the immigrant is undocumented, when their transition is not legally sanctioned. In this way, the analogy between political border crossers and sexual border crossers mutually reinforce the message that those who cross physical boundaries must contend with a meta-layer of structuring data that renders their actions illegal.
However, this connection reveals itself to be more than a mere analogy in her account of a transexual woman who was apprehended after crossing the border and then sexually assaulted. In that case, it becomes clear that the transexual border crossings are not like political border crossings, they are political and their perceived violations evoke a similar kind of violence, uncovering the deepest kind of insecurity of power from the gendered State enforcement of normative roles.
However, this connection reveals itself to be more than a mere analogy in her account of a transexual woman who was apprehended after crossing the border and then sexually assaulted. In that case, it becomes clear that the transexual border crossings are not like political border crossings, they are political and their perceived violations evoke a similar kind of violence, uncovering the deepest kind of insecurity of power from the gendered State enforcement of normative roles.
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