Western Transnormativity and the U.S. Asylum Process: From Gender-Nonconforming Forced Migrant to Neoliberal Transgender Refugee

Abstract

This research exposes the ongoing violence from sustaining Western nation-state apparatuses. By considering U.S. asylum processes at the turn of the 21st century, it provides insights on how contemporary Western nation-state exported models of bureaucratized legalities and accompanying social norms produce and (re)produce transgender migrant subjectivities. To do so, this research employs three decolonial feminist methods: 1) critical rhetorical analysis of legal and media sources, 2) personal experiences and testimonio, and 3) a historically materialistic dialogical analysis. Through these methods, this research demonstrates the violent process of conversion of gender-nonconforming Global South subjects into transgender refugee ones.