Still at the Back of the Bus – Discuss Questions:

 

1. According to Gan Sylvia Rivera “contextualized political praxis, informed by her life experiences, both resisted and provisionally while simultaneously resisting reductive definition”. What is your opinion on this statement after reading the article and from what we have learned throughout the course?

2. As I was reading the article by Gan I found the comparison of Rivera to Rosa Parks to be very interesting. Do you believe that Rivera acts during the Stonewall riots are in fact comparable to Rosa Parks and the boycott in Montgomery Alabama during the struggle against segregation?

3. After reading the article, I was very intrigued by Sylvia Rivera and being a transgender woman of Puerto Rican descent but did anyone else feel that Gan almost made it seem that Rivera was the beginning of the trans liberation movement? I may be wrong but I wanted to get other opinions of this as well. After reviewing the notes the Dewey lunch counter sit in took place prior to Rivera.

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Marlon Bailey Discussion Questions

1.) What is it about the Ballroom Culture Bailey finds to be particularly transformative and subversive as a tactic for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness?

2.) What does the author believe to be problematic with typical and widely used methods of informing the public (specifically certain “communities” deemed as “high risk”) about the HIV/AIDS epidemic?

3.) What stigmas are created within our culture about HIV/AIDS regarding ethnicity, geography, and socioeconomics? Why are certain communities within the population deemed as “high risk” groups?  How do these stigmas serve to perpetuate “high risk” groups?

Discussion Questions

1) In Dan Irving’s Article, He talks about the four economic themes involved in regards to transitioning and also mentioned the fact that transexuals were often disciplined, why was this the case? Why is the process of transitioning so difficult for some people and why can’t they be treated well even after they are transitioned, what classifies them as different and allows people to treat them the way they do through therapy and other such means?

2) Dan Irving’s article discusses the “normalization of Transgender/Transgressions”, what are some other examples from readings we have read throughout the semester or news, et cetera that we can use to further prove the point that Dan Irving is trying to make through his article?

3) Dan Irving’s article starts off by discussion the Compton eatery resistance that was the first sign of resistance against police by transgendered people, if we look further into the incident and imagine what would have happened if that scenario didn’t happen, would the situation be the same for transgendered people or would the situation be even more complicated for them as that scenario wouldn’t have most likely happened?

Discussion Questions: Perverse Citizenship (3/3)

1) Marcia Ochoa states, “A project that strives for social transformation must embrace and negotiate both complexity and frustrating political subjects” (447). According to the author, why is it important that locas REMAIN outside the expectations of a “civil society”?

2) What does their exclusion from citizenship say about the production of the nation? Who plays a role in their exclusion?

3) Why does Ochoa argue that  foreigners visiting places such as Venezuela,  must not try to “bring light or voice”? (449)

4) How would transformistas work to transform the concept of citizenship? Why does Ochoa argue that attempts to transform citizenship would lead to similar exclusions and limitations that the current citizenship model has?