Student: Samson Harman
Graduation date: May 2016
Capstone type: Non-thesis
Capstone project:
Trans Feminine BIPOC, “Queer” Spaces, and Urban Colonialism: A Case Study of Seattle
Capstone file(s): Show file | Show file
SOS 101 is an accessible digital syllabus, intent on bridging the gap between environmental justice and trans feminine BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) through a prison abolitionist framework. This work emerges in a moment when unprecedented levels of violence have been directed at trans feminine BIPOC, and the world stage is ripe with discussions of housing affordability, environmental racism, climate change, and police brutality. Through a discursive analysis, learners dive into how “queer” spaces (i.e. bars, parades, entertainment centers, the like) structure or support the logics that shorten trans femme BIPOC lives. Learners can expect to find revealing connections between how queer space-based claims later develop into areas of intensive revitalization, as the “creative economy” settles and pushes out previous queer residents. I aim to lengthen the scope of this phenomena by invoking the history of U.S. colonization, including its effects on racialized gender norms and punishment, by ruminating on the themes of pollution and purity. I take Seattle as the site where these dynamics are fervent, given the recent wave of anti-queer and anti-trans violence. I ask how and attempt to open a dialogue that relies on alternatives to carceral solutions, as police and prisons disproportionately target trans femme BIPOC. It is my goal to produce a resource for others that spurs further dialogue, both on the site itself, and in the greater community.