The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment (ASTERISK) by Cameron Awkward-Rich


The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment (ASTERISK)
Title : The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment (ASTERISK)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1478016051
ISBN-10 : 9781478016052
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 208
Publication : First published October 7, 2022
Awards : Lambda Literary Award Transgender Nonfiction (2023)

In The Terrible We Cameron Awkward-Rich thinks with the bad feelings and mad habits of thought that persist in both transphobic discourse and trans cultural production. Observing that trans studies was founded on a split from and disavowal of madness, illness, and disability, Awkward-Rich argues for and models a trans criticism that works against this disavowal. By tracing the coproduction of the categories of disabled and transgender in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century and analyzing transmasculine literature and theory by Eli Clare, Elliott DeLine, Dylan Scholinski, and others, Awkward-Rich suggests that thinking with maladjustment might provide new perspectives on the impasses arising from the conflicted relationships among trans, feminist, and queer. In so doing, he demonstrates that rather than only impeding or confining trans life, thought, and creativity, forms of maladjustment have also been and will continue to be central to their development.

Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Award recipient

The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment (ASTERISK) Reviews

  • Sarah Cavar

    Easily one of my go-to “theory books” to recommend to EVERYONE. Awkward-Rich is an excellent writer and scholar, and both are on display in The Terrible We.

    He stories together transMad lineages and resists binarizing disability justice and pro-depathologization trans movements (while still brilliantly criticizing the increasing institutionalization of trans studies and its relationship to “womens” and “queer” academic spaces and traditions). He devotes equal attention to transMad poetics and unusual, fractal ways of storying, and looks to poetry as a key to dealing with (and making a future out of) the inherent contradictions that come with having a body that misfits. Somehow, all of this comes together in just 150 incredibly expansive pages, while also leaving open a generous amount of space for readers to play and add more. This is the community book we need.

  • Chidi

    The Terrible We asks us to think of/use maladjustment as an organizing principle in trans studies. By looking at maladjustment instead of dismissing it, we can access alternative modes of being and thinking. As a mentally ill trans person, I ate this book up. A fun provocative read. Great companion to “Side Affects: On being Trans and Sad” by Hil Malatino.

  • Noa Sepharia

    Depressed trans ppl stand up

  • endrju

    Moj prikaz:
    https://talas.org.rs/2023/05/18/pisat...

  • Eden

    I never ever give academic books star ratings, but for this one I feel compelled to use every possible means to express how great I think it is.