Ephemeral Record

tl;dr:

Ephemeral Record is a historian’s exploration of queer and trans pasts and presents, blending archival research, personal narrative, and cultural reflection.

Why it matters

Queer and trans histories have always been obscured, hidden from public narratives, only surfacing through traces and whispers. Queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz wrote that queerness appears through “innuendo, gossip, fleeting moments… evaporating at the touch of those who would eliminate queer possibility.”

For trans people in particular, telling our own stories is especially important. As literary scholar Gabrielle Bychowski observed in Trans Historical, “Most scholarship is, effectively, cisgender scholarship… because most scholarship assumes the cisgender status of any character or historical figure who is presented.” Trans narratives told by trans people reclaim authority over our lived experiences and reveal the complexities of trans joy and resilience.

With Ephemeral Record, I want to preserve and share those moments, from the medieval trans sex worker in London to my own experiences as a genderqueer trans person navigating an social and political climate that is increasingly hostile to 2SLGBTQIA+ folks.

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