SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Trans Cosmologies is a collaborative research and art project seeking to challenge and counteract the religious denial of trans lives and trans religious heritage. By exploring rich and diverse trans sacred traditions, as well as new, radical, and alternative ethics, decolonised cosmologies and spiritual positionings, the project seeks to highlight the historical and contemporary contributions of trans individuals and communities to religious ideas, practices, and environments. The project critically addresses the increasing role of religious institutions and religio-political rhetoric in transphobic violence globally, and aims to dismantle the legitimacy of trans expulsion ideologies rooted in falsified religious histories. The project firstly raises awareness about the diverse religiosities of trans and gender-nonconforming people and communities by creating a new public platform for anthropological, theological, historical, and artistic explorations. In so doing, the project firmly challenges the ideological suggestion that trans lives lack religious and historical depth. Rather, it shows that no history of religion can be told without the representation of trans lives, which have not only inhabited, but profoundly shaped, cosmologies and rituals across the world. The implications of this prompt are far-reaching, as the project engages and seeks to redress the absence of trans lives in the religious studies curricula, as well as the exclusionary language and practices across religious, political, and educational institutions. The project thus explicitly addresses the barriers faced by trans individuals within religious and secular spaces influenced by transphobic misinterpretations of religious values and histories. It also addresses the epistemic hurdles faced by staff and students in academic contexts. The project features contributions of trans, gender nonbinary, and queer academics and students. The positive impact of the project is measured through the outlined public events (workshops, exhibition, conference, open- access winter school) and widely disseminated reports, a new research network and major publications, staff-student collaboration, as well as through curriculum reform guidelines.