This lecture investigates compulsory (state-mandated) “good citizenship” classes, mothering classes, and other forms of pedagogical discipline and surveillance that have become central to the structuring of domestic violence (DV) advocacy services. These requirements subject Black DV victims/survivors to a form of carceral “sentencing” as a prerequisite for recieving vital services and resources. Dr. Garcia argues that such requirements are based on antiblack moral judgements that serve as a locked gateway to freedom from institutional violence. Studying the convergences of race, gender, and the law illuminates the ways the carceral state continues to influence conceptions of safety, protection, and community. 

Tourmaline’s work attends to the histories of disabled, poor, Black, queer, and trans elders in order to highlight the capacity of Black queer/trans social life to transform worlds. Her films create dreamlike portraits of gay and trans liberation icons, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (Happy Birthday Marsha!, 2018, Mary Jones (Salacia, 2019), Miss Major (The Personal Things, 2016), and Egyptt LaBeija (Atlantic is a Sea of Bones, 2017). 

This talk is part of the spring focus of the Feminist Futures initiative, “Beyond the Bathroom Wars: What is the Future of Transgender Politics?,” and is co-sponsored with the Department of Black Studies.