Articulating Transgender Subjectivity: How Discursive Formations Perpetuate Regimes of Power

Abstract

In this article, we bring new insights and add to existing conversations both about the discursive contestations around transgender subjects and about the theory of articulation. We argue that transgender subjectivity has become a part of a larger hegemonic struggle to define the purpose and modalities of contemporary politics and has become a key moment in political power struggles between hegemonic projects. We provide a detailed and closely analyzed example of how articulation allows us to parse apart the linkages through which signifiers are given meanings. We display how different political actors articulate the same signifier within diverging discourses, showing how gender identities are caught up within relations of power that seek to exclude and marginalize.