Queer and Trans Studies in Religion: A Conversation with Prof. Melissa M. Wilcox

 Religion in Public interviewed Melissa M. Wilcox (University of California, Riverside) about her recently published book, Queer Religiosities: An Introduction to Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion, and about how she sees the exciting field of queer and trans studies in religion developing. This interview was conducted by Hollie Gowan, and edited for publication by Eden Parry.  

How did the book come about?

That’s actually a really interesting story. The book was solicited by an editor who was at Rowman and Littlefield at the time, called Sarah Stanton. She had interests in both queer studies and religion but there was no textbook at the time that combined them, and she wanted to change that. In the process of trying to launch the project, she talked to a lot of people including myself.

However, at the time I had a monograph that I was desperately trying to finish. I knew that if I were to do the project then I would want to throw a lot of time and energy behind it, and I wasn’t able to do that right away. Sarah did go and talk to other people, but they were unavailable and those asked, apparently nominated me. I was honoured to have my colleagues’ votes of confidence to do this project. It was agreed that the project was worth waiting for and so I would write it. Despite Sarah leaving the Press before the project was completed, we always stayed in touch – the book is kind of her baby still.

What are the key contributions the book makes to queer studies in religion?

The true contributions of this book will be identified by those who use it. What I hope it does is provide a foundation for people who want to teach about queer and trans studies in religion, whether they are themselves experts in these subfields, or whether it’s something that they and/or their students are interested in. Really, I hope it provides a framework for people who are interested in learning more about these areas of research, no matter the stage of their career or their own field of study, in a way that doesn’t involve shallow and extractive approaches. This is not to say that I wish to gatekeep, but rather to eradicate the excuse that background knowledge and context are not available. I have tried to point in the directions that the field is going, and new directions I think it could expand into, including the rich potential there is when engaging in cross conversation between religious studies, queer studies and trans studies.

Right now, it is easier to convince religious studies colleagues that there’s a generative conversation to have, than it is to convince queer and trans studies folks of the same thing. To build this bridge, religious studies scholars often highlight what queer and trans studies can do for the field, but that approach makes the conversation really one-sided. Queer and trans studies also have things to learn from religious studies but this is harder to sell!

How do you see the relationship between queer and transgender studies, given that both terms are used in the sub-title?

They’re relatives who don’t live together but can sometimes get along quite well at holidays! They are related fields, but with a bit of tension between them because of the ways in which queer studies can sometimes be sexist, exclusionary, or appropriative. And yet, there are ways in which the two fields support and push each other, they become important resources for one another. A lot of work that is simultaneously thinking about questions of gender, sexuality, and embodiment has almost by necessity had to engage with both fields.

Trans studies in religion is growing but is still at an earlier stage than queer studies due to the transphobia in the academy. Queer studies in religion has intentionally created space and panels for trans studies to be able to come to the forefront. But to be clear, it is trans scholars who are doing the work. I think it is important to have a separate group for trans studies as lesbian and gay spaces have not always been welcoming, although this is changing.

The book claims to be 'globally focussed' - how does global queer religion studies speak back to the mostly North American origin and location of the field?

This is one of the areas in which I think the field really needs to grow. The book needed to be globally focused because the students in our courses and readers of our textbooks, hail from everywhere.

I do the best I can to describe a world that includes all my students. It’s imperative for me that I do everything I can to not do it in an Orientalist or ‘touristic’ kind of way. And in that I am limited by the scholarship that exists in the languages that I can read. The bulk of queer and trans studies in religion has taken place in the global North and global West, with a primary focus on Christianity – and even more so on white Protestants – and it is important to own that and constantly work to do better. This book is not the whole story, but it aims to pull varying knowledges together in one place where people can begin to study, read and engage with them. This single book is ultimately my voice but I have aimed to pull many voices together so that I am mirroring the global discussion.

How do you envision the field to develop in the coming years?

I think first and foremost, what excites me is the amount of people who are moving into these areas and that there is growing support from the broader field of religious studies. I am excited about the openings that are happening. Alongside this, it is important that we see a lot more support for trans studies in religion and for new scholars to train directly with people who have spent their careers working in queer and trans studies in religion.

We've got some exciting developments on the ground, there's been talk about trying to turn the conference here at UCR into an academic organisation, so that we have more consistent communication between members and a way to make the conference self-sustaining beyond UCR. This is tied to the journal initiative; a small group of us are working on a proposal for a journal in queer and trans studies in religion. I'm also co-editing a book series with New York University Press that aims to highlight works that press the existing boundaries of queer and trans studies in religion.