Narrating Trans in Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland

This book provides an anthropological exploration of the history of trans identity categories in Poland. It analyses the practice of narrating trans experiences in various social, institutional and political contexts, arguing that the personal narratives of trans persons are not only sources of trans identities but also resources in the struggle for social and political recognition. The author combines an historical approach with an examination of contemporary apparatuses that produce and maintain trans identity categories, drawing on a variety of material including personal interviews, legal files from court archives, and sexological literature from before 1989. The chapters cover the period from 1964, which marks the first case of legal gender reassignment in Poland, until the second decade of the twenty-first century, when the first openly trans member of parliament was elected and trans issues became the stock of everyday media coverage. They trace the development of diagnostic categories in sexological and legal discourses and their subsequent remaking in trans activism. The book combines anthropological concepts with insights from queer theory and trans studies to describe the production of trans concepts of the social through the practice of personal storytelling. It will be of particular interest to scholars of anthropology, sociology, and gender and sexuality studies.