ABSTRACT
The reconstruction of childhood, tracing moments of early awareness of ‘being different’, seems to be of central concern in the genre of trans autobiography. If the complex process of remembering and forgetting remains a critical issue in autobiography in general, it is augmented in trans memoirs with the unique narrative constellation of remembering while simultaneously seeking to forget and discard one’s former gender identity assigned in childhood.
Through a comparative textual analysis of three Indian and three German autobiographical books published by trans women between 2007 and 2019, the societal background of class, caste, and religion appears vital in governing access to education, job prospects, and medical assistance. Different temporalities of childhood settings, growing up in post-war Germany or in internet-savvy India, as well as the specific context of localities, such as the GDR and FRG, or Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in India, point to these texts as testimonials of a global movement in time rather than being restricted to comparative categories of ‘traditional’ versus ‘modern’ nations. Striking commonalities in these first-hand accounts raise questions towards the acknowledgement of a lifelong self-knowledge of trans persons belonging to the other sex since childhood.
