The Medieval DSM: Teaching On Medieval Disability & Transgender

"Jo l'ai tolte desnaturee"

[I have completely de-natured them]

Roman de Silence
Heldris of Cornwall

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In her book, She's Not There: A Life In Two Genders, transgender author and English professor, Jennifer Boylan, recalls, "One day I was stopped in the hall by a professor of medieval literature... I knew it would be good because scholars of this period seem to be required by the Modern Language Association to be absolutely insane." Now, attending the medieval congress at Kalamazoo may only reinforce this notion that we are all at least a little bit insane. Indeed, I am not here to dispute Boylan’s claim. Instead, I wish to put forth the intersection of transgender studies, disability studies, and medieval studies as a productive sort of crazy-making. Admittedly, my own professional well-being depends somewhat on the premise that all this madness means something significant in the end. In particular, I propose the thesis that medieval approaches to gender and madness may productively contribute to a wider education on disability and transgender studies. Specifically, I would like to outline a pedagogical movement whereby we move students from a knowledge as a possession which might be hoarded and represented by compendiums such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) towards a medieval model of knowledge as a process which depends on a lyrical and dialectical dialogue between multiple authorities, which I call the medieval DSM. Now, many of us here today might contend that given the DSM is called the Bible of Psychology, then the Bible is the medieval Bible of the Psyche. Yet I will demonstrate through a lesson from my seminars, “Monsters & Disability” “Queer Christianity,” and “Beyond Male & Female,” using the debate between nature, nurture, reason, and will from Roman de Silence as the sandbox for discussion, that the medieval DSM might be best translated as the medieval dialectical storytelling method.

While I’ve taught the medieval DSM in a few classes, as I just mentioned, it perhaps is most important for my Disability seminar at Case Western Reserve University which tends to have a higher number of pre-med, nursing, biology, and psychology majors attending the institution’s well known medical schools and working in their hospitals. For these students, lecture courses are the cornerstone with knowledge gained extensively through note-taking, cram sessions, and multiple choice tests based on large compendiums of knowledge like the DSM. For them and the other students of this STEM university, the treatment of knowledge as a process which involves multiple competing perspectives challenges the models of knowledge as object which has made them successful thus far in their studies. Indeed, many regard transgender as an inappropriate topic to study in a disability seminar because it is seen as too political or too based on in the social constructionist models of gender studies, not hard science. Yet lessons such as the medieval DSM used to discuss texts like Roman de Silence challenges their definitions of disability, gender, and epistemology, or how we know what we know. 

For those who are not familiar, Le Roman de Silence is a 13th century French chivalric romance about a trans masculine knight by Heldris of Cornwall. In the narrative, Sir Silence is born in a society that does not allow women to inherit property, so when he are born without a penis, his parents elect to raise him as a son in order to protect his right to inherit their estate. This runs smoothly until he reaches adolescence at which time he becomes aware that he is not like other boys. At this point, Nature and Nurture arrive to debate with him over whether or not he should continue to follow his nurturing to live as a trans masculine male or to follow nature’s decree that he live as a woman. The two sides go back and forth until Reason arrives to offer another and perhaps a higher authority perspective. And in the end, the choice falls to the will of Silence who elects to live as a man, which he does for many years. 

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Nature

Now, when my students hear that we will be discussing transgender in a disability seminar, they expect lectures in line with the discourse of Nature in the story. They expect me to provide them with medical information which informs them first whether or not being transgender is a disability and if it is what sort of health care may be involved. When I hand them this medieval poem, they get confused. This is not the exchange of knowledge-rich professor giving data to knowledge-consuming student. Instead, I am challenging them to think dialectically, considering the natural sciences alongside those of culture, philosophy, and ethics. Even worse, I am challenging them to engage in this dialectical debate of thesis, antithesis and synthesis through narrative. Doing this is key however to growing their perspectives on transgender and disability from being a collection of facts to being a collection of facts, cultures, ideologies, and choices. By getting them to see transgender and disability as ongoing dialectical narratives, I can show them not only how understandings of gender of the mind, body, and soul have evolved over the centuries but help them to question modern definitions and diagnoses. 

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Nurture

For instance, the debate between nature and nurture are present throughout modern medical treatment of transgender people. This dialectic hit a powerful anti-thesis in the 1990s with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act that codified many protections and rights of people with disabilities while also including a clause which first disregards homosexuality as not being a disability or disorder and yet including transgender as being a disorder yet one not deserving of protection or support. Trans diagnoses were listed in this clause alongside pedophilia and bestiality. Indeed, we see this debate occurring today with the Trump administration considering transgender too much of disability and thus marking trans people as not fit to serve while also removing healthcare protections so as to allow anti-transgender insurers and doctors to refuse to cover what they consider to be a life-style and not a disability.

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Super-Nature

and Reason

While the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and dozens of other authorities consider gender dysphoria a valid medical condition deserving of care and yet not one that inhibits a person’s ability to serve, the refusal to recognize the natural facts of trans life are often follows super-natural or spiritual authorities. In Silence we see this escalation from nurture and nature to the super-natural with the arrival of Reason. Here the medieval DSM makes students productively uncomfortable again by challenging them to consider their own first principles, belief systems, and ideological biases. The gender binary that anti-LGBT politicians medical providers promote is not based in science or history but in the philosophical fallacies of pre-determined outcomes. This flawed logical doctrine that there are only two genders causes doctors to operate on intersex children in order to force these exceptions to this binary back into the binary, rather than recognizing that their binary is disproven by the biodiversity of chromosomes, hormones, phenotypes, and neuro-types. 

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Liberty

With natural sciences, cultural nurturing, and ideological rationales considered, modern and medieval scholars will often come to conclusions before stopping to consider that the debate Silence has four members of this dialectical storytelling and not three. While Nature, Nurture, and Reason all make their cases, in the end the decision falls to Silence. Silence choses to live as a trans man. The significance of this decision is highlighted both by the thousands of lines of narrative that extols Sir Silence living his best life but also in the tragedy that ends the story when Silence undergoes a sort of forced to live as a woman by the natural authority of Nature, the cultural authority of the King, and the Super-Natural Logos of Merlin. This tension between the start and end of Silence’s narrative marks how disability and transgender studies is more than just the natural or social sciences debate over what someone is but over the ethical question of who and how we empower trans and crip people to make decisions about their own lives.

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In the end, Le Roman de Silence is an effective tool at not only teaching students about medieval transgender and disability but in understanding a different way of knowing through the medieval DSM. Knowing as a dialectical storytelling method not only teaches students about medieval ways of analyzing differences in body and mind, but in challenging them to reconsider how they know what disability and transgender mean. I firmly believe that critical thinking itself may be defined by this ability to have multiple voices and perspectives in mind at once (whether or not one allegorizes them) and being able to synthesize factual, cultural, epistemological and ethical decisions based on them. This multiplicity of voices is often absent in social media and politics which put us all into echo-chambers where our favorite authorities pass down truths which repeat themselves through retweets, likes, and shares. The ability to sit in a classroom and synthesize perspectives into a shared narrative of knowledge is more important now than ever.

Thus, I return to the quotation offer by my trans sister and fellow scholar of literature, Jennifer Boylan, when she says that “scholars of this period seem to be required by the Modern Language Association to be absolutely insane." In a modern world where modes of thinking are defined by in-groups and out-groups, those who believe or disbelieve the same science, who share or reject the same cultures, who believe or disbelieve the same super-natural authorities, and who approve or condemn the same sorts of choices, maybe this era and our classrooms need more medieval insanity if that insanity means being able to think on multiple levels at once. Being able to at once play the games of the enemy and win, or else to know enough to refuse to play games which are rigged against you, may mean not only the difference between an A or a B grades but can be life-saving for trans and crip people who often find themselves at the mercy of ever changing authorities who try to decide what our lives mean and what our choices me be, and can perhaps be the difference between a livable and an unlivable life for them and others.

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Crip Blessings: A Poem for a Race and Disability Seminar

A poem for my students
inspired by the Spring 2019 syllabus

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May you question what’s wrong with perfect 

But always try to do better.

May you change the world

But never so much that we lose the power to evolve and grow.

May you turn and face the strange

Even when that strangeness is your own future.

May you journey far into other world

And learn to see the other in the self.

May you stand up for the outcast

But beware of desire that turns into hellfire.

May you love your hands, your feet, your face

Enough to be able to face the past that lives with us.

May you be big enough to care for the small,

And small enough to see the magic in the world.

May you call out abuse and oppression

But always out of love that goes beyond yourself.

May you not be afraid of your own monstrosity

But never lose the ability to accept care when you need it.

May you find allies in the most unlikely of places

As we consider the past and dream of a better future together.

May we never forget the discarded parts of our lives and families,

Because they may ever come back hungry for better.

May we dream with our eyes wide open,

But never so much that we cannot perceive truth from lies.

May we find ways to survive even the worst of times,

And find support that will not take advantage of us in our moment of need.

May you follow and grow in your genius,

Without taking ourselves out of the contexts of our world.



May you reject moral apathy, intellectual laziness, and boredom,

As you focus on the elements of goodness, truth, and beauty around us.

May you walk away from this class learning something of how to learn

And keep it with you as you become more yourself in the years to come.

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A Queer Christian Blessing: Prayers Upon the End of the Seminar

A poem for my students
inspired by the Spring 2019 syllabus

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May your life be full of many beginnings

And may you never lose your creativity.

May you find and form communities

But may your feast tables always have seats open for the stranger.

May you speak truth to power

Even when it flies in the face of what people have known

May your letters never just be one way

But ongoing correspondence across the ages.

May you cherish the good that is given

But not be afraid to explore change and new worlds.

May you be big enough to see across many vistas

But small enough to retain a sense of wonder and uncertainty.

May you give light and life to your inner self

And may the world learn better how to see that light.

May you imagine visions of worlds big and small

And may you have faithful companions to help bring them into being.

May you find room enough in your wading pools for a neighbor,

Because there are more than one way to love.

May you reach out of isolation

And find community and strength in one another.

May you find to wisdom and strength for the mountains you must climb

And may we make the road easier for those who come behind us.

May the road ahead be brighter than the roads behind

As one good grows apart from another good and yet shines brighter for its company.

May we find ways to survive even the worst of times,

And find support that will not take advantage of us in our moment of need.

May you gain the courage to leave places and things that do not serve your growth

And yet bring with you those things and people who can help you on the way.

May you love goodness and know truth beyond yourself,

And find ways not to exploit but instead to amplify the good and truth of others.



May you reject moral apathy, intellectual laziness, and boredom,

As you focus on the elements of goodness, truth, and beauty around us.

May you walk away from this class learning something of how to learn

And keep it with you as you become more yourself in the years to come.

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Transgender in God's Army: A Queer Christian Retrial of Joan of Arc

"Men are sometimes hanged 
for telling the truth"

Joan of Arc

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Assignment Overview

In this exercise, the seminar will engage is a new re-trail of Joan of Arc. Since Joan's death at the hands of the medieval English courts, Joan has be retried by the French, and generations of Christians, historians, and LGBTQI people trying to understand all that Joan's life meant. To this day, even as some historians fight adamantly that Joan of Arc is not trans, when "medieval transgender history" is mentioned in academic or the public the first responses almost always include some variation of the question: "don't tell me... Joan of Arc?" What is it about Joan of Arc that continues to bring scholars back to debate the gender and sexuality of a person over and over again across centuries? No matter how we might try to dismiss the cases about Joan of Arc as indisputable, unknowable, or unimportant, we cannot ignore society's perpetual fascination with the sometime heretic, sometime saint, sometime visionary, sometime virgin, sometime warrior, sometime queer, sometime trans figure at the center of these trials.

In order to get closer to Joan of Arc, the discussions will be led using (mostly) primary texts. Yet the additional research and questions challenge your groups to think about the society that produced and the eras that judged and rejudged Joan of Arc. In the process of providing a summary of the discussion, note (1) a thesis, (2) an anti-thesis, and (3) explain how your group synthesized the different points of view. Conclude by hearing arguments from other witnesses, the other students who likewise have been part of the investigation of Joan of Arc.

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Sample Groups

Group 1: Joan of Arc
as Visionary

A key piece of Joan of Arc's trial was the repeated visions and communications the saint had with angels, Biblical figures, and God. It is on the basis of these visions that Joan claims to be compelled, excused, and endorsed in becoming a soldier. Arguing truth based on feelings, intuition, ingrained natural orientations, and unconscious insights are also part of queer and trans history. Consider a few quotations relating to these visions in relation to the question of if being a visionary is part of Joan's queerness or transness:

"Men are sometimes hanged for telling the truth...I was admonished to adopt feminine clothes; I refused, and still refuse. As for other avocations of women, there are plenty of other women to perform them...

What concerns this dress is a small thing - less than nothing. I did not take it by the advice of any man in the world. I did not take this dress or do anything but by the command of Our Lord and of the Angels...

Everything I have said or done is in the hands of God. I commit myself to Him! I certify to you that I would do or say nothing against the Christian faith...

... since God commanded me to go, I must do it."

Terms to research: gender dysphoria, queer, trans, heteronormative.

Group 2: St. Joan of Arc
as Warrior

Going to war is difficult in a gown or even a peasant's dress. This is part of the rationale that kept women and other gendered people from engaging in military service openly until very recently. The assumption was not only that women must not be soldiers but that women must always wear clothes customary for women. Crossing one law would involve crossing both laws: to be a soldier would also to be a gender outlaw. This is part of the case against Joan of Arc but also the case in defense of Joan of Arc. Because if we allow the former, that Joan was and could be a soldier, then the latter follows, that Joan was and should wear soldier's clothes. Consider these arguments and conclude if Joan was being sufficiently customary and modest:

Another consulted cleric was Teodoro Lelio[59] (1427-1466), an Italian theologian attached to the Papacy who was considered one of the greatest canon lawyers of the 15th century, whose eloquence inspired Pope Pius II to label him "[my] harp". [85] In his paragraph on the male clothing issue, Lelio notes that her motives were connected with the practical needs of participating in a military campaign, among soldiers whose lust she did not want to excite, rather than from any indecent or otherwise forbidden motive.

Martin Berruyer (died 1465), Bishop of Le Mans,[61] takes a slightly different approach with regard to the Summa Theologica, citing section Ia-IIae, q. 102 a. 6, [91] which is concerned with the Christian relation to the laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. [92] As with the more commonly-cited section mentioned above, this passage clarifies the intentions behind the clothing regulations in the Bible, such as prohibiting the practice of cross-dressing for sexual reasons or in connection with ancient pagan religious rites. Berruyer notes that Joan of Arc therefore was not violating the intent of these laws, quoting as an example her statement that since she was among men it was "more lawful and proper to wear male clothing" in order to avoid various problems that could result otherwise. [93] He then refers to the more familiar passage (IIa-IIae, q. 169 a. 2 ad 3) justifying such a usage, and notes that the protection of one's chastity, as well as the greater suitability of such clothing for horseback riding and other activities associated with military campaigns, are perfectly lawful purposes, especially as she believed to have been acting under God's orders. [94]

The next opinion is from Guillaume Bouillé[64] (d. 1476), a professor of theology and Superior of the Cathedral of Noyon. His treatise begins: "To the honor and glory of the [Divine] King of Kings, Who defends the cause of the innocent..." [102] Bouillé covers the issues of her male clothing, armor, and short hair, beginning with the customary explanation that the prohibitions in Deuteronomy 22:5 and in the Decretum Gratiani (I.30.6 and I.30.2) would not apply in this case since it was fitting for her to make use of these things in order to live among soldiers; moreover, if she was commanded via Divine revelation to do so then it would be justified on that account. [103] He comments that she was not wearing this clothing for reasons connected with sexual depravity or idolatrous purposes, noting that it is these cases which the Bible forbids, "as says the Holy Teacher [St. Thomas Aquinas]". Here he cites the usual passage in the Summa Theologica. [104] Among the female saints who had worn such clothing, he mentions Natalia, Marina, Eugenia, and Euphrosyne.[65] [105]

Terms to research: gender expression, gender identity, cross-dressing, trans, butch, femme, heteronormativity, cisgender privilege, transgender in the military.

Group 3: St. Joan of Arc
as Virgin

In the Middle Ages, virgins had distinct legal (secular) and ecclesiastic (religious) definitions, rights, and privileges distinct from other genders/genres of women: wives, mothers, widows, and nuns. Moving from virgin to wife and mother (or other sexually active form of womanhood) was a legal and spiritual transition that corresponded to a change in social identity. As such, it is significant that Joan of Arc repeatedly invokes being a "maid" (aka. a virgin) throughout the proceedings of the trail. Even the gender presentation as a soldier is tied to this identity as virgin. Discuss how Joan of Arc's virginity is helpful to understanding the queer and/or trans tactics used to defend and attack Joan.

Read a few of the following passages:

Some additional details are provided in Massieu's final deposition (12 May 1456):

"Questioned, furthermore, concerning the contents of the 26th Article, [the witness] testifies that on the day of the Holy Trinity [i.e., Trinity Sunday], when Joan was accused of having relapsed, she replied that, as she was lying in bed, her guards removed the female clothing from the bed in which she was lying, and gave her the male outfit; and, although she asked the guards to return the female clothing so she could leave her bed to go relieve herself, they refused to give it back to her, saying that she would not receive anything but the aforesaid male clothing. 

From the deposition given on 13 May 1456[10] by Friar Martin Ladvenu one of the clergy who had served as an assessor (theological advisor) at her trial:
"Concerning the contents of the 26th and 27th [articles], he testifies that he heard from the aforementioned Joan that a certain high-ranking English lord visited her in prison and attempted to violate her by force.[13] And she told the aforesaid witness that this was the reason she had readopted male clothing after the first sentence."[14] [13]

From the deposition given on 3 May 1452[15] by the Rouen citizen Pierre Cusquel:[16]

"Concerning the 9th Article, he says that people were saying that there was no other reason for her condemnation except the readoption of male clothing, and that she had not worn, and was not wearing, this male clothing except in order to avoid accommodating the aims of the soldiers she was with; and [the witness said] that once in prison he asked her why she was wearing the aforesaid male clothing, to which she replied as above." [14]

From Guillaume Manchon's deposition on 12 May 1456:[17]

"And in the witness' presence she was asked why she had readopted this male clothing, to which she replied that she had done it for the protection of her virginity, for she was not secure while wearing female clothing with her guards, who had tried to rape her, which she had complained about many times to the Bishop and Earl; and [she said] that the judges had promised her that she would be placed in the custody of, and in the prisons of, the Church, and that she would have a woman with her [i.e., a nun, following Inquisitorial procedure];[18] additionally saying that if it would please the lord judges to place her in a safe location in which she would not be afraid, then she was prepared to readopt female clothing..." [15]

Terms to research: eunuchs, asexual, agender, grey ace, queer, gender queer.

Group 4: Joan of Arc
as Transgender Saint

On Monday, we read the Life of St. Marinos the Monk. This saint fits many of the definitions of transgender men, transitioning in his youth, changing gender presentation, pronouns, and his name then living as a man until his death. Joan of Arc has a different story and yet throughout Joan's retrial, St. Marinos (called St. Mary or St. Marina) are regularly invoked as an example of God and the Church embracing transgender identity and presentation as not only permissible but even holy. How do you see Joan of Arc fitting into this theology and history of trans saints?Another consulted cleric was Teodoro Lelio[59] (1427-1466)... adds that she should not be judged a heretic for taking the sacraments while in this clothing, as she had adopted it for good purposes. He points out that St. Marina repeatedly took the Eucharist while dressed as a monk, and likewise mentions St. Eugenia as another example. As proof of Joan of Arc's proper attitude toward the sacraments, Lelio cites one of her statements concerning the Eucharist recorded in the Condemnation transcript. [86] 

Martin Berruyer (died 1465), Bishop of Le Mans... lists the cases of other female saints who wore male clothing for various purposes of necessity - Thecla, Eugenia, Pelagia, Marina, etc - and cites the Biblical prophetess Deborah. [95]

Terms to research: non-binary, gender queer, butch, trans*, transgender men.

Group 5: Joan of Arc
as Gender Dysphoric

The authors and editors of the document we examined for class takes a traditional approach to Joan of Arc, trying hard to define Joan as not transgender. Yet what many of these scholars miss are the wider definitions of transgender and gender dysphoria that include a range of individuals, including those who do not follow the "man trapped in a woman's body" narrative. Specifically, consider how gender dysphoria arises out of social context and social prejudice against non-customary gender expression and identity, then consider if Joan is killed on the grounds of presenting non-customary gender expression and identity.

Read Definition of Gender Dysphoria


For a person to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there must be a marked difference between the individual’s expressed/experienced gender and the gender others would assign him or her, and it must continue for at least six months. In children, the desire to be of the other gender must be present and verbalized. This condition causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Read selections from the introduction:

The stated legal justification for Joan of Arc's conviction and execution on 30 May 1431 was her resumption of male clothing on the 28th. Her judges implied that her actions were sinful; certain modern authors have surmised that she was motivated by transgender feelings or other such identity issues. Both positions allege that she was guilty of heresy under the tenets of 15th century theology. To any historian of the subject, these assertions present a number of obvious problems, on both factual and theological grounds. 

Re-read, Deuteronomy 22:5 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

5 A woman shall not wear a man’s apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does such things is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

Terms to research: gender dysphoria, gender expression, gender identity, gender presentation, gender, sex, cross-dressing, transvestite.

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Eugenic Monsters: Race and Disability in Out of the Silent Planet

"Our right to supersede you
is the right of the higher 
over the lower"

Professor Weston

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The Rise

Out of the Silent Planet is the story of a impoverished child with intellectual disabilities, Harry, whose life and liberty set to be sacrificed so mankind (the masculine here is intentional) may progress to a new stage of development or at very least make a lot of money for a few scientists and industrialists. That is the plan, until a foolish professor of philology, Dr. Ransom, saves him from the eugenic duo who are his employers turned captors. As a result, Dr. Ransom replaces the boy as the victim and thus adopts the adventure which was set forth as a disability narrative. Indeed, the author, C.S. Lewis, seems to put a lot of work into the first few chapters illustrating the similarities between the victim (Dr. Ransom) and his captors: all white cisgender heterosexual men of education from England during the waining years of its role as a colonial empire. The loss of an overt disability narrative comes in order to make a statement about eugenics: anyone can be its victim, even a tenured professor with no small degree of social and economic privileges. Yet we may all be challenged to speculate as to what the story would have looked like if Harry and not Dr. Ransom had been allowed to go on the journey. How would that change the narrative? 

The scientist (Dr. Weston) and his financial backer (Mr. Devine) live in a place called "The Rise" where they are working on the space ship which will bring them back to Mars (called "Malacandra" by the native peoples) and its rich reservoirs of gold. The name of the estate, "the Rise," signifies the philosophies of the partnership. First, they regard themselves as above other peoples in intelligence, social status, and worth for the species. In contrast to their great role in history as pioneer and proto-colonizers of Mars, Harry is expendable. The name, the Rise, seems to reflect the step ladder of evolution and intelligence that eugenicists used to designate some peoples as ideal and others as feeble-minded strains on humanity. Second, the pair seeks to "Rise" humanity out of its current state into a new condition. Promptly, they wish to turn humanity into an interplanetary and later interstellar species. In the long run, they hope to assist humanity in its evolution into a new kind of super-human humanity. Third, the Rise is the literal place where these space travelers will rise off the planet into the heavens. Beyond the name, the estate is closed off to the world by large fences and black-out curtains. Secrecy and exclusivity defines the location's functioning. As Lewis argues in The Abolition of Man, eugenics and similar applications of science do not benefit all humanity but only those portions of humanity that exclusively control the resources, tools, and use of the sciences. The secrets, wealth, and future that Mars may offer humanity will be collected, hoarded, and dolled out by the gate-keepers of The Rise who will capitalize greatly from their position. Even the interior of the house, which is described as sophisticate squaller reflects the personalities of people who regard themselves as very important but who do not attend much to the conditions or methods that seeking their goals produces. All the world might likewise be turned into a trash-heap if their important lives and work are allowed to continue.

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Hnau

Upon arriving on Mars, Dr. Ransom encounters a series of intelligent species, which are very distinct in form and society but which are all given the designation "Hnau" or "sentient." These encounters and reactions to the diverse peoples can be examined for the cultural and historical associations given to different traits on Earth. The first to be encountered are the Sorns, giant long-limbed feathered humanoids that Dr. Ransom flees. The philologist wonders at them being insect-like before he sees them. After seeing them, he describes sorns as giant or ogre like. Later he considers them like goblins. Finally, he settles on them being like angels or ancient philosophers. He fears them as hyper-intelligent and cruel aliens who seek to eat him. Only later does he come to know them as hermits, introverts, scientists, inventors, and sometimes shepherds. At this point, he gains a respect for them which never quite equals warm affection. Dr. Ransom however does become very affectionate with the Hross, a species of otter-like humanoids. He encounters one on the water and fears him as a giant beast. Once he hears the hross speak, Dr. Ransom jumps out and makes his first friend on Mars. Brought to the hross's home, he discovers them to be hunters, gatherers, crafts-people, warriors, and singers. It is among the hross that Ransom spends the most time and forms the greatest ties. Only near the end of his journey does Dr. Ransom meet the pfifltriggi who are frog-like industrialists, stone and metal workers who live underground in a highly organized matriarchal society. At this point, Ransom is open to recognizing the ways in which difference in body, temperament, and society do not equate to differences in intelligence or morality. All are different on Mars but all are equally hnau.

Learning to unlearn the eugenic patriarchal colonialist and white supremacist impulse to create hierarchies among peoples is one of the most prominent character arcs that Dr. Ransom undergoes while on Mars. At first, Ransom fears all creatures that are not like him. Second, he learns to see intelligence as it appears in other kinds of bodies. Third, he is corrected again and again when he tries to determine which of the three resident species on Mars is the superior ruling class. At this, Dr. Ransom finds that not only is his understanding of the facts incorrect but that he is importing a hierarchical way of organizing information and relationships. Fourth, Ransom comes to see the different forms of embodiment, intelligence, and society as equal in value even as they are distinct. Fifth, when he meets people of his own species again, Ransom sees humanity as perhaps less "Hnau" than the martians, coming to describe himself and his peers as broken or "bent Hnau." The peoples of Mars console Dr. Ransom by suggesting that it is perhaps the great homogeny of humanity, rather than its diversity, that has caused the desire to create hierarchies. On Mars, the differences between peoples were evident for countless generations and so an appreciation was ingrown for differences in body, mind, and culture. On Earth, they speculate, the fact that there is not a fundamental difference between Ransom and his captors, between Ransom and Harry, or perhaps even between people of different nationalities, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, and abilities spurs a desire to create artificial or superficial divisions and hierarchies between peoples. With some education or time spent on Mars, as Ransom has experienced, humanity might be able to better see all the members of the human species as equally "hnau."

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Code-Switching

Out of the Silent Planet begins and ends with a eugenic dialogue but whereas the initial speeches given by Weston and Devine go unanswered in the first case (largely because Dr. Ransom is incapacitated for much of it), the speech that comes at the end of the book is answered by wisdoms greater than the scientist. These dialogues function to frame the book, the majority of which is highly metaphorical and lyrical in its logics, with plain speech articulation of the themes and problems of eugenics. The ability for the scientist and industrialist to be answered in the second set of speeches is representative of the lessons that the protagonist and thereby the readers have learned on Mars. In fact, the long speech that Weston makes before the assemblies of Mars about eugenics, colonialism, and racial supremacy is literally translated to the martians by Ransom and thus de-coded for the reader as well. The translation exchange, with Weston espousing his rhetoric and Ransom giving the plain speech version, is a good example of close-reading exercises. Readers and students can learn the form and purpose of critical summaries and co-switching from these passages. For instance, the segments of Weston's speech are much shorter than the translations that Ransom gives because the latter does the hard work of unpacking key terms and explaining leaps in logic which the eugenicist makes implicitly. A class exercise might follow the same form or even use the same text, with students being given portions of the speech or similar passages from other eugenicists and then being tasked with taking on Ransom's role of translator. This would reinforce the lessons of the book and also give students practice in close-reading rhetoric and giving paraphrases which unpack rather than merely restating.

After a series of failed attempts at establishing dominance, based on tricks of European colonizers such as the presentation of beads, Weston launches himself into a speech with a few distinct threads that reflect the themes of the novel. The main speech consists of five segments followed by a question and answer with the leader of Mars. First, Weston tries to establish humanity's superiority with boasts based on modern western European nationalism, eugenics, and racial supremacy talking points: science, industry, weaponry, architecture and capitalism. Second, Weston makes the leap in logic that because of these cultural and technological advantages, he believes that his race was the inherent moral superiority. Third, Weston extends his logical leaps even further, claiming that life and evolution naturally position such a superior race above all other peoples, with Nature commanding one race to live and all others to die. Fourth, the natural supremacy of his race means that they are the destined rulers of all habitable or resource-rich lands, justifying not only world-wide colonization but interplanetary colonization. Fifth and finally, Weston asserts that the destiny of his race as the natural rulers of the universe is so absolute that not even his death will stop it. After each of these exchanges, Ransom translates the coded dog-whistle rhetoric into plain speech racism, sexism, colonialism, and ableism which also highlights the irrational leaps in logic and the logical inconsistencies. Following this, there is an exchange between the leader of Mars with Weston in which he deconstructs the primary figure which his speech claimed to represent: the race. The leader unpacks his claims and actions to show that it is not the form of the body, nor the possession of intellect, nor even the shared humanity which Weston loves in his idolatry of his "race" but rather the mere "seed" of his race which is insists must continue unabated. The leader then challenges his love this "seed" which Weston desires to be immortal with the stark reality that not only do all lives and all planets die but even genealogies of sees must die out. Is it not better, he implores, for living things to have the goal of living good lives rather than merely trying to live long lives?

Each of these points can be broken down as part of a class discussion or serve as themes by which the wider novel might be understood. The themes of the Rise, Hnau, and Code-Switching runs throughout the book's discussion of the peoples, the physical environments, and conversations. It could be a task to find these threads and give presentations that summarize how the book shifts from the Weston to the Ransom perspective by the end of the book, or rather, how Ransom's perspective shifts from aligning closer to Weston to finally taking on a martian point of view by the end.

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Transgender Icons: Queer Christian Images of Marinos the Monk

"The One Who Saves the Soul
Is Like the One Who Created It"

The Vita of Marinos the Monk

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Assignment Overview

In this exercise, the seminar will produce a series of icons of St. Marinos the Monk based a variety of attributes that characterize saints: Imago Dei, Imitatio Christi, Christus Medicus, Baptism, and Sainthood. These traits all have corresponding qualities in the lives of transgender people in general: authenticity, living your best lives, service to the community, transition, and remembrance. By focusing on these traits, this assignment eschews debates at to whether St. Marinos the Monk is a man (he lived as a man), transgender (he lived a transitioned life from his youth to his death), should be called transgender because he did not use the word (he wouldn't use any of our words, given that he did not speak English), or if he can be holy and transgender at the same time (he is a trans saint). I have addressed these considerations have been made in other posts and forthcoming peer-reviewed articles. Thus they may be reviewed in a lecture. This assignment challenges students to engage not in skepticism but in celebration. How might a trans life be honored as sainted?

By focusing on these positive traits, this exercise turns students away from the testing and skeptical tone that dominates cisgender society and the grim and negative tone that tends to surround queer allies when discussing transgender lives. The Vita of St. Marinos the Monk testify to the positivity and virtues of a trans life as much as they recounting anti-trans prejudices. A few of these negative prejudices include the tendency among hagiographers, icon makers, translators and scholars to deadname as well as misgender Marinos the Monk. He was known as a male, a monk, during life and this should be respected. He called himself Marinos and this should be respected. Additionally, the inability of local early Christian communities to recognize and name trans identities testifies to the ingrained ignorance and dominance of cisgender mindsets. Had society been more aware and accepting, Marinos might have been able to come out during his life instead of after his death. All these negative circumstances may be considered but at the center of the story is Marinos the Monk, a figure of positive traits that overcame these conditions to live a sainted trans life.

The task of assignment is to create an image with a name, a description -- write, St. Marinos the Monk, Patron Saint of [Fill in the Blank] -- and then provide a summary based on close reading the text alongside additional research. These icons will be made in small groups and then shared with the rest of the class.

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Sample Groups

Group 1: St. Marinos the Monk
 and the Imago Dei

Consider the argument between Marinos and his father. Although it seems as though he is calling on his father to save his soul by letting him also join the monastery, take a moment to ponder how Marinos himself might be living out his Imago Dei: saving his soul by transitioning into the image of a monk God made him to be. By affirming his gender (monk), how might Marinos be like the one who created him to be a monk?

"Father, do you wish to save your own soul and see mine destroyed? Do you not know what the Lord says That the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep?" And again she said <to him>, "The one who saves the soul is like the one who created it?"

Terms to research: Imago Dei, living authentically, suicide rate for transgender youths.

Group 2: St. Marinos the Monk
and Baptism

Consider the argument between Marinos and his father. How does Marinos's father misunderstand his trans son's gender? How does living authentically as a monk answer Marinos's father's concerns? How is transitioning and taking monk's vows like baptism?

"Child what am I to do with you? You are a female, and I desire to enter a monastery. How then can you remain with me? For it is through the members of your sex that the devil wages war on the servants of God."

To which his daughter responded, "Not so, my lord, for I shall not enter <the monastery> as you say, but I shall first cut off the hair of my head, and clothe myself like a man, and then enter the mastery with you."

Terms to research: baptism, becoming a monk, monk's habits, coming out to your parents as transgender, gender versus sexuality, asexuality, abstinence and chastity.

Group 3: St. Marinos the Monk
and Imitatio Christi

Consider the ways in which Marinos is living his best life after he is able to transition. How does living an authentic life make one more successful as your work, relationships, and even prayer? How does the comment about Marinos being an eunuch relate to early Christian and medieval understandings of transgender?

"Day by day, the child advanced in all the virtues, in obedience, in humility, and in much asceticism. After she lived thus for a few years in the monastery, <some of the monks> considered her to be a eunuch, for she was beardless and of delicate voice. Others considered that <this condition> was instead the result of her great asceticism, for she partook of food only every second day."



Terms to research: authentic lives, best lives, eunuchs, gender euphoria.

Group 4: St. Marinos the Monk
and Christus Medicus

Consider Marinos's ability to heal with his touch. How does the Monk's authentic life serve to heal others beyond having miraculous powers? How might his authenticity, trans identity, perseverance and sainthood (being set apart) serve to heal who encounter him?

"Eventually it came to pass that her father died, by <Mary, remaining in the monastery>,<continued> to progress in asceticism and in obedience so that she received from God the gift of healing those who were troubled by demons. For if she placed her hand upon the sick, they were immediately healed."

Terms to research: Imitatio Christi, gender dysphoria, gender euphoria, Christus Medicus.

Group 5: Marinos the Monk
and Sainthood

Consider the reaction of Marinos's community after discovering he was trans after death. How does the Superior's reactions mirror those of friends and family after an oppressed transgender person dies? How does death feed into advocacy? Is there a critique to give communities that are better at mourning the dead than helping the living?

"Drawing near and seeing <for himself>, the <superior> cast himself down at her feet, and with many tears cried out, "Forgive me, for I have sinned against you. I shall lie dead here at your holy feet until such time as I hear forgiveness for all the wrongs that I have done you."

..."The superior thereupon send <word> to the innkeeper to come and see him. When he arrived, the superior said to him, "Marinos is dead."... "You must repent, brother, for you have sinned before God. You also incited me by your words, and for your sake I also sinned."

Terms to research: ally, advocate, transgender day of remembrance, deadnames, suicide rate for transgender people, homicide rate for transgender people.

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Starter Questions

1) What core concept did your group examine? How did you translate the theological term into current English? What are other words you consider?

2) How does your passage demonstrate the principles of the concept? In what ways does it address transgender life? In what ways does it address gender Christian life?

3) How did your group visualize the concept and passage? What associations and images are you using to translate the trans Christian sainthood?

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