ABSTRACT
The EFL (English as a Foreign Language) curriculum is a cis-heteronormative device that silences the voices of the trans community by either excluding them or by fetishizing their inclusion. The absence of representation of nonconforming identities, as well as their under- or misrepresentation, has an ontological effect on both students and teachers, since their embodied subjectivities are shaped or limited by what the hegemonic narrative tells them they can be(come) as human beings. In this chapter, the authors offer some theoretical underpinnings in an attempt to develop a critical approach to trans literature in the EFL class. A problematized inclusion of trans literature may offer students both a first-hand experience of trans lives with which transgender students and teachers can identify, and a new lens through which they can question the cis-heteronormative matrix (Butler 1990) that engenders violence and discrimination against contesting bodies. The authors share the findings of a multiple case study on the inclusion of trans literature in a state-run high school and a teacher training college in the city of Buenos Aires. The results seem to indicate that trans literature has clear educational potential in EFL teaching contexts, leading to engagement in language learning, criticality, and the promotion of social justice.
