Une histoire culturelle des vies trans

A Cultural History of Trans Lives


Call for Volume Editors 



Call for Volume Editors: A Cultural History of Trans Lives (6 vols., under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing, Publication Expected Early 2027)

General Editors: Blake Gutt, Greta LaFleur, Emily Skidmore


We write as the General Editors of a new, six-volume series, under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing: A Cultural History of Trans Lives. We seek proposals from potential editors for each volume of the series, which cover six pre-set historical periods: antiquity, the middle ages, the early modern period, the long eighteenth century, the nineteenth century, and the modern age. Each volume will comprise eight chapters, which will address the same broad topics in the same order across volumes, although there is significant flexibility.

A Cultural History of Trans Lives is a six-volume series that explores the history of trans lives across the globe from antiquity to the contemporary period, tracking the divergent ways in which trans lives have been experienced, understood, (mis)represented, and regulated. Our guiding principle in this series is that trans lives have a history: that individuals have understood their existences as distinct from, and have lived in ways viewed as contradictory to, the cultural norms attached to the gender assigned to them at birth– throughout recorded history. Therefore, understanding how gender has been defined, regulated, challenged, and transgressed will provide us with a deeper understanding of the past and inform contemporary conversations about trans lives. We understand “trans” as a broad umbrella, encompassing people who have experienced the gender assigned to them at birth as incorrect, incomplete, or inadequate to account for their identities. This includes binary and non-binary trans people, as well as genderqueer and gender non-conforming folks, genderfluid and agender individuals, and more. We recognize the validity of temporary identifications, as well as the authenticity of individuals’ own understandings of their gender: that is, one does not need to come out or to transition in order to be trans. We acknowledge that trans possibilities are different across the time periods explored in this series, and thus we are interested in meditating on those points of departure and the potential those differences may bear. We are invested in discussing the ways in which categories of race, nation, sexuality, labor status, and age impact both the treatment and experience of trans people across time and space. We intend each volume to address themes including law and social control; bodies, medicine, and care; spirituality, religion and the sacred; politics and polemics surrounding gender and gender diversity; representation of trans and gender nonconforming people and the arts; material cultures; and theories of natural and unnatural.


Editor Responsibilities:

The Volume Editors will find contributors to submit essays on the various range of topics, contribute an introduction which will provide an overview of the period, and they will also be responsible for securing the artwork and obtaining permissions for the use of images. They will also compile for their volume a chapter notes section and a consolidated bibliography. Volume editors will receive royalties pursuant to the sale of their volumes. We prefer that volume editors work in teams of two or more to both distribute the responsibilities and to incorporate a wider range of expertise. We encourage expressions of interest from junior scholars, including those who may have little or no editing experience; the series editors are committed to supporting junior scholars and can mentor or advise volume editors who are interested in gaining experience with scholarly editing projects.


Guidelines:

The ideal length of each volume will be 95,000-100,000 words. Each volume will include a preface, written by the series editors, of 2500 words or so; an introduction, written by the volume editor(s) of 15,000 words or so, and then eight chapters of about 10,000 words, inclusive of notes and references.



Timeline:

May 1, 2023: expressions of interest from potential volume editors

May 15, 2023: Series Editors notify candidates of selection as volume editors

June 1, 2023: Series editors begin working with volume editors to solicit individual essay contributions.

September 1, 2023: Volume Editors finalize volume contributors

August 1, 2024: Contributors submit their essay drafts

June 2025: Volume editors review and finalize chapters, write introductions, submit manuscripts of volumes to series editors

December / January 2026: General editors review and comment on all manuscripts; volume editors securing permissions, images, etc.

April 2026: Submit final manuscripts of all volumes to Bloomsbury

2027: Publication


If you are interested in co-editing a volume, please send a short paragraph describing your interest, expertise and/or experience with the historical period, trans studies, and / or editing projects to CulturalHistoryOfTransLives@gmail.com. Please indicate which volume (antiquity, the middle ages, the early modern period, the long eighteenth century, the nineteenth century, the modern age) you are interested in co-editing. Expressions of interest are due by May 1, 2023.

If you would like more information about the series, the series editors or our vision for the project, please email: CulturalHistoryOfTransLives@gmail.com. We would be happy to discuss the project and responsibilities with potential editors!


We look forward to hearing from you!

Blake Gutt (blake.gutt@gmail.com)

Greta LaFleur (greta.lafleur@yale.edu)

Emily Skidmore (emily.skidmore@ttu.edu)