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(Trans)forming Nature - On transgender nature/naturalness conceptualization and key ways they challenge and transgress coloniality

Naeslund, Kajsa LU (2025) HEKK03 20242
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
This study explores how transgender perspectives challenge colonial dualisms - pure/impure, body/mind, animal/human, nature/culture, and rational/emotional - within environmental discourse. Colonial binaries have long reinforced imperialist, capitalist, and cisheteropatriarchal power structures. Through qualitative research with urban transgender individuals in Sweden, using decolonial methods like Focus group and Cuerpo-territorio, findings reveal that trans individuals disrupt rigid categories by embracing fluidity, hybridity, and interdependence. Participants challenge the separation of body and mind, highlighting the role of emotion and self-determination in shaping identity and embodiment. They also reject the colonial framing of... (More)
This study explores how transgender perspectives challenge colonial dualisms - pure/impure, body/mind, animal/human, nature/culture, and rational/emotional - within environmental discourse. Colonial binaries have long reinforced imperialist, capitalist, and cisheteropatriarchal power structures. Through qualitative research with urban transgender individuals in Sweden, using decolonial methods like Focus group and Cuerpo-territorio, findings reveal that trans individuals disrupt rigid categories by embracing fluidity, hybridity, and interdependence. Participants challenge the separation of body and mind, highlighting the role of emotion and self-determination in shaping identity and embodiment. They also reject the colonial framing of nature as a fixed entity, instead viewing it as diverse, queer, and deeply intertwined with human existence. By resisting the imposed "purity" of bodies and identities, trans perspectives offer insights that transcend dominant ecological narratives. Trans people did also came to intersect with the dualisms Pure/impure and Body/mind, partly due to an internalized medicinal discourse, and partly as a result of validating pree-existing categories simultaneously actively redefining identity, bodies and purity. This research contributes to both queer and decolonial ecological thought, advocating for a more inclusive understanding of human-environment relationships that moves beyond colonial binaries. (Less)
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author
Naeslund, Kajsa LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
(Trans)formera Naturen - Om transkonseptualisering av natur/naturlighet och viktiga sätt dessa utmanar och överskrider kolonialitet
course
HEKK03 20242
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Transgender, Transecology, Decolonial, Dualism, Nature conceptualization, Natural/Unnatural conceptualization.
language
English
id
9186206
date added to LUP
2025-04-10 12:36:30
date last changed
2025-04-10 12:36:30
@misc{9186206,
  abstract     = {{This study explores how transgender perspectives challenge colonial dualisms - pure/impure, body/mind, animal/human, nature/culture, and rational/emotional - within environmental discourse. Colonial binaries have long reinforced imperialist, capitalist, and cisheteropatriarchal power structures. Through qualitative research with urban transgender individuals in Sweden, using decolonial methods like Focus group and Cuerpo-territorio, findings reveal that trans individuals disrupt rigid categories by embracing fluidity, hybridity, and interdependence. Participants challenge the separation of body and mind, highlighting the role of emotion and self-determination in shaping identity and embodiment. They also reject the colonial framing of nature as a fixed entity, instead viewing it as diverse, queer, and deeply intertwined with human existence. By resisting the imposed "purity" of bodies and identities, trans perspectives offer insights that transcend dominant ecological narratives. Trans people did also came to intersect with the dualisms Pure/impure and Body/mind, partly due to an internalized medicinal discourse, and partly as a result of validating pree-existing categories simultaneously actively redefining identity, bodies and purity. This research contributes to both queer and decolonial ecological thought, advocating for a more inclusive understanding of human-environment relationships that moves beyond colonial binaries.}},
  author       = {{Naeslund, Kajsa}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{(Trans)forming Nature - On transgender nature/naturalness conceptualization and key ways they challenge and transgress coloniality}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}