This roundtable facilitates a critical conversation about the intersections of queer theory, trans theory, and transnational media studies. From work on transnational queer activist media in the Global South (Bao) to queer approaches to late capitalist transnational media logistics (McBean), scholars have considered how queer/trans theory and transnational media studies complicate, disrupt, and shape one another. As global supply chains, multinational corporations, and digital and internet technologies facilitate the development and circulation of transnational media texts, queer theory provides an avenue to critique and critically analyze media texts, policies, and economic practices (Yue). At the same time, transnational media studies work can challenge assumptions and arguments within queer and trans theory that tacitly center on Whiteness and US geopolitical contexts (Subero; Wahab). This roundtable seeks to unravel complexities and gain new insights into the dynamic relationships between queer theory, trans theory, and transnational media studies.

Potential topics for the roundtable may include, but are not limited to:

• Queer/Trans fandoms, fan labor, and/or fan texts of transnational media

• Transnational media and representations of queerness and transness

• Translation, localization, and queer/transness

• (Inter)national government media policies 

• Queer and trans readings of transnational media texts

• Discourses of queer and trans identities across transnational media circuits

• Queer and trans creators/developers of transnational media

• Queer and trans activist media

• Insections of queerness, transness, and race in transnational media

• Social media communities, sites, and practices

• Queer and trans theoretical approaches to global supply chains and multinational media corporations

• Potential challenges of applying queer theory to transnational media studies, and vice versa

If you are interested in participating, please prepare the following:

1. A presentation title

2. A brief description of your topic (about 75-100 words)

3. A brief introduction of yourself, including your name, organization, and academic interests

We also welcome any questions you may have about the planned roundtable! 

Please send all questions and submissions to both David Kocik ([log in to unmask]) and Aiden Kosciesza ([log in to unmask]) by Monday, August 7. 

The best,