Colonial Gender Continuum

The Colonial Gender Continuum (CGC) is a conceptual framework that elucidates how colonialist practices influence and shape what is understood by transgender identity and personhood. The practices that shape patterns of thought, or the cognitive gender lens (Lugones 2020), shape in turn forms of neoliberal inclusion and transgender equity efforts within institutions. The framework intends to map how colonialist ideologies and practices have historically shaped and continue to exert influence over the understanding and treatment of gender difference or dissent. In other words, it maps the pedagogies of the coloniality of gender that ultimately gives rise and shapes forms of “trans coloniality” (DiPietro 2019) in action – the practices and discourses that enable and constrain co-formations and co-productions of power (Bacchetta 2015) in how we understand, engage, and manage transgender difference especially among “trans-” Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the Global North. The CGC explores the effects of colonialism on gender subjectivity, identity, and relationality, emphasizing how colonial legacies continue to disrupt Indigenous and cultural-specific understandings of gender and trans materiality.

The CGC makes visible the pedagogies of the coloniality of gender, or the educational and discursive practices perpetuating colonial ideas about gender. These practices manifest in our methods of teaching, understanding, and disseminating concepts of transgender identity, personhood, and materiality. Frequently, these concepts are grounded in anglo, Western, and colonial perspectives that enforce gender binaries and hierarchical views, favoring certain forms of gender expression over others. The CGC makes visible insidious ways that colonial power dynamics continue to shape and replicate themselves within modern structures of knowledge and power. This influence affects perception, embodiment, and regulation of gender in society.

At its core, the CGC addresses the compounded epistemic violence and ontological domination experienced by transgender people of color. The framework underlines a dual reality: on the one hand, it showcases the ongoing oppression and systemic marginalization faced by transgender people of color due to the enduring impact of colonialism and existing societal prejudices. On the other hand, it highlights the resistance, and co-formations generated against these colonial and binary gender norms, celebrating the resilience and agency of individuals who defy and navigate these oppressive structures.

The CGC goes beyond a mere critique of colonial legacies in shaping gender; it also examines how these historical influences permeate current societal structures, including the academic and organizational frameworks within institutions meant to diversify or include transgender people of color into the academy. It scrutinizes how transgender equity initiatives are conceptualized and implemented, revealing the limitations imposed by a colonialist perspective on transgender identity and personhood. This insight is crucial for comprehending the dynamics of interpersonal relationships among transgender individuals and their interactions with the broader community, particularly in educational settings where the failure to adopt anti-oppressive practices reflects the underlying coloniality of gender in equity design. Furthermore, the coloniality of transgender also involves the co-optation and suppression of feminist and queer movements within multicultural inclusion, often sidelining issues of race, colonialism, and global inequality in mainstream gender discourse.

The Colonial Gender Continuum (CGC) emphasizes how colonial legacies intersect with current forms of social exploitation and oppressions, spotlighting the systemic injustices and discrimination faced by transgender people of color globally. This ongoing oppression is perpetuated by deep-seated transphobic biases entrenched in societal norms, which enforce binary and exclusionary views of gender.

Decoloniality within the CGC framework challenges dominant Western views on identity, which shape the socio-cultural and legal landscapes in postcolonial contexts, particularly affecting non-normative genders. By advocating for decoloniality, the CGC seeks to dismantle restrictive narratives around identity, creating space for the recognition and validation of diverse transgender experiences. Additionally, the CGC critiques the relationship between institutions and individuals, highlighting how the Global North’s actions, often masked as benevolence, can inadvertently reinforce oppression in the Global South (DiPietro 2019).

In examining Palestine, along with Jasbir Puar’s (2018) analysis of pinkwashing, the CGC provides insight into the complex interplay of oppression, resistance, and identity in colonized and contested spaces. Pinkwashing, as a colonial strategy, uses LGBTQ+ rights to divert attention from broader injustices, thus perpetuating colonial and heteronormative ideologies. The CGC calls for a rejection of these tactics and a refocusing on the voices and experiences of marginalized groups, acknowledging their struggles and resilience against both occupation and identity appropriation. This approach not only challenges oppressive narratives but also celebrates the agency and resistance of Palestinian LGBTQ+ individuals navigating the fraught landscape of colonial and societal pressures.

In my research on transnational feminist practices and through activism within Jotería communities, I’ve observed parallels between Palestinian queer resistance and the experiences of undocumented Latinx transgender communities, particularly in how they face state violence, systemic exclusion, and imposed identity frameworks. For instance, in my interviews with trans Latinx individuals who have navigated the U.S. immigration system, many shared how state surveillance and policing of the meaning of transgender left them feeling disconnected from both their cultural and gender identities (Salas-SantaCruz 2024). This resonates with the concept of colonial dysphoria, experienced by Palestinian queer individuals as they confront the compounded oppressions of occupation and internal societal conservatism. Colonial dysphoria describes the profound alienation transgender and queer people of color experience as a result of navigating colonial, transphobic, and heteronormative structures.

For Palestinian LGBTQ+ individuals, this dysphoria is exacerbated by Israeli pinkwashing tactics, as discussed by Lana Tatour in her analysis of Palestinian political movements. Tatour (2021) argues that while pinkwashing is framed as LGBTQ+ progress, it simultaneously reinforces colonial control and erases the lived experiences of Palestinian queers, forcing them to contend with imposed identities that alienate them from their communities. As highlighted by Lynn Darwich and Haneen Maikey (2014), Palestinian queer activists must navigate both Israeli occupation and the conservative forces within their society, as seen in the ongoing efforts of groups like alQaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. Maikey & Hochberg (2010) and Lana Tatour (2021) point out that the struggle for queer and trans liberation in Palestine is inseparable from the larger fight against Israeli settler-colonialism, a notion reinforced by Tatour’s discussion of the Unity Intifada. The Unity Intifada brought together Palestinians across all territories in unified resistance against colonial fragmentation, reinforcing the need for a collective approach to both national liberation and queer resistance (Tatour 2021).

In this context, the Colonial Gender Continuum offers a framework for understanding how colonialism, heteronormativity, and transphobia intersect to maintain oppressive power structures. By incorporating Palestinian feminist and queer scholarship, we can see how the CGC exposes the ways colonialism, heteronormativity, and transphobia work together to maintain oppressive power structures, while highlighting the ongoing resistance of queer Palestinians like those engaged with alQaws and Palestinian Queers for BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), who challenge both external and internal pressures in their fight for justice.