
biopolitics, recaps of the first chapters of “The Right To Maim”
Recap #1
Preface: Hands Up Don’t Shoot!
- Context: The writing was intensified by the events of Summer 2014 – the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the Israeli siege of Gaza.
Key Concepts:
- The Right to Maim: A political theory that relates to the power dynamics in the control of populations, especially through targeted bodily assaults.
- Settler Colonialism: Links between the situations in Ferguson and Gaza, highlighting the violence and control exerted over populations.
- Intersectionality: The interconnectedness of various forms of oppression and resistance, emphasizing solidarity movements like Ferguson-to-Gaza.
- Examples: Police brutality in the U.S. and Israeli military actions, both exemplifying the power to either kill or maintain debilitated populations under control.
Recap #2
Introduction: The Cost of Getting Better
- Focus: Analysis of media attention to gay youth suicides in 2010, highlighting how neoliberalism impacts bodily capacity and debility.
Key Concepts:
- Bodily Capacity and Debility: The relationship between individual physical/mental abilities and the pressures of societal structures.
- Neoliberalism and Slow Death: The idea that neoliberal policies contribute to ongoing structural inequality and suffering.
- Examples: Discussion of the “It Gets Better” campaign, questioning the effectiveness of neoliberal approaches to addressing systemic issues of inequality and marginalization.
Recap #3
Chapter 1: Bodies with New Organs: Becoming Trans Becoming Disabled
- Focus: The chapter investigates how transgender bodies are shaped and influenced by political, legal, and social frameworks. It particularly focuses on the intersections of transgender issues with disability, exploring how both are subjected to biopolitical control and normativity within societal structures.
Key Concepts:
- Trans(homo)nationalism: Refers to the recognition and assimilation of transgender identities into national discourses and legal frameworks, often reinforcing normative standards.
- Biopolitical Control: The state and societal practices that regulate bodies, particularly focusing on transgender and disabled bodies, in terms of medical, legal, and social norms.
- Transnormativity: The normalization of certain transgender identities, often aligning with white, able-bodied standards.
- Examples:
- American Disability Act (ADA): Discussed in relation to transgender rights, highlighting how the ADA’s approach to disability intersects with transgender issues.
- Transgender Media Representation: Examines the media representation of transgender individuals and its impact on societal perceptions and legal rights.
- Intersection with Race: Analysis of how transgender and disabled identities intersect with race, emphasizing the heightened vulnerability of trans individuals of color.
- Medical and Legal Systems: The chapter scrutinizes how medical and legal systems both enable and constrain transgender identities, particularly in terms of access to healthcare and legal recognition.
Recap #4
Chapter 2: Crip Nationalism: From Narrative Prosthesis to Disaster Capitalism
- Focus: The chapter explores the relationship between debilitation (a process of physical and social weakening) and disability within the contexts of labor, war, and state apparatus. It delves into how these forces shape perceptions and experiences of disability, particularly in capitalist societies.
Key Concepts:
- Debilitation: The intentional weakening or damaging of bodies as a strategy of control by capitalist and state systems. It is a prerequisite for the production of disability.
- Crip Nationalism: The idea that disabled bodies are co-opted by nationalist and capitalist agendas, often in the guise of empowerment or inclusion but ultimately serving state and capitalist interests.
- Biopolitics of Debilitation: The state and capitalist practices that create and exploit debilitated bodies for economic and political gains.
- Examples:
- War and Labor: The text links the organization of labor and war as mechanisms of debilitation, with disabled bodies emerging as a byproduct of capitalist and state violence.
- ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act): Puar critiques the ADA for not addressing the broader structures that produce disability, suggesting it inadvertently supports capitalist exploitation of disabled bodies.
- Global South: The chapter also discusses how capitalist exploitation leads to disability in the Global South, highlighting the unequal global distribution of disability and its ties to imperialist practices.
- Racialized Disability: The chapter touches on how race intersects with disability, noting how racialized bodies are often more susceptible to debilitation due to systemic inequalities.
Most important arguments made in chapter 3:
Most Important Arguments Made in the Chapter 3: Disabled Diaspora, Rehabilitating the State: The Queer Politics of Reproduction in Israel/Palestine
- Israel’s promotion of LGBT rights serves as a strategy to distract from its occupation of Palestine and to position itself as a modern, democratic state in contrast to the allegedly backward Palestinian society.
- The occupation itself is a form of biopolitical control, manipulating both Israeli and Palestinian bodies through various means including sexual regulation, reproductive policies, and the framing of disability.
- The chapter challenges the simplistic view of Israel as a singularly progressive state in terms of LGBT rights, arguing that these rights are used instrumentally in the context of broader socio-political goals.
- Puar argues that pinkwashing is a tool in the larger context of Israeli settler colonialism, where it serves as both a form of preemptive securitization against Palestinians and a mechanism for internal colonization
- The intersection of disability with settler colonialism is highlighted, showing how disability rights are entangled with nationalistic and colonialist agendas.
- Puar critiques the Israeli state’s pronatalist policies and their intersection with nationalist and racialized agendas, particularly in the context of reproductive technologies and practices.
biopolitics, essay on chapter 3: Disabled Diaspora, Rehabilitating State – The Queer Politics of Reproduction in Palestine/Israel
Let us traverse the tangled terrain of “pinkwashing” – an intriguing concept indeed! As Edward Said’s seminal Orientalism unveiled, narratives create mythic dichotomies between West and East, moderns and ancients. Here too, Israel deploys tropes of progress and tradition to veil complex truths. I am reminded of Plato’s allegory, where the unenlightened see mere shadows on the cave wall, oblivious to realities hidden behind them. Palestinians become those shadows – rendered backward, monolithic, their truths eclipsed by this political art of camouflage.
Yet such dichotomies rarely capture lived complexity, wouldn’t you agree? As Gloria Anzaldúa wrote, borderlands foster “technicolored” mestizaje identities that defy rigid binaries. Might diverse LGBTQ perspectives lurk behind this pink façade? As we traverse beyond Puar’s framework, let us give voice to marginalized narratives on all sides. Can we envision a discourse revealing varied dreams, fears, loves and hopes within both communities? One acknowledging minorities within minorities? After all, to quote Audre Lorde, “revolution is not a one time event.”
Homonationalism: A Mirror of Contradictions
This “homonationalism” also intrigues – nationalism’s dance with gay rights makes queer bedfellows indeed! As Foucault exposed, sexuality and state power entwine like vines. Which identities flourish in this bramble, and which are choked? Puar reveals the double-edged sword, where heralded progress for some obscures others still struggling for liberation.
I am reminded of activist Audre Lorde’s words: “I am defined as other in every group I’m part of.” Like Russian nesting dolls, minorities hide within minorities in manifold ways. In gazing at Israel’s homonationalist facade, let us ask – what stories of identity and exclusion are not being told? What voices yearn to breathe free from this cultural glue bonding citizenship and sexuality?
Rather than framing queer Israeli identities as automatic accomplices to the state, might we make space for diverse experiences? Could Israel’s LGBTQ communities themselves have complex, conflicting views on immigration policies affecting Palestinian kin? As Walt Whitman wrote, we “contain multitudes” of connections and contradictions within the self. Before making judgments, we would do well to listen to marginalized voices from across this metaphorical border wall. Only then can equivalence and empathy guide us forward.
The Biopolitics of Debilitation and Rehabilitation
And when it comes to disability – the body politic bared! Palestinian figures cast as broken, dependent…fragile merchandise of occupation’s brutal machinery. An ironic contrast emerges – the “rehabilitated” state turns caretaker nursemaid for its wounded wards.
Yet I hesitate to embrace this metaphor wholeheartedly. Does it not risk flattening the manifold ways disability mingles in Palestinian experience? As Judith Butler wrote, which bodies “qualify” as “grievable” enough for notice? The discord between populations ought not blind us to discord within.
Might we move past imagery of nameless invalids aided by magnanimous Israel? Let us conceive instead of individuals, families and communities adapting creatively to impairment’s challenges. Of neighborhoods and nations re-envisioning access, equity and empowerment even amidst hardship. Of pride and solidarity thriving alongside struggle. For as disability activist Eli Clare wrote, “complex embodiment ought not be reduced to simple spectacle.” In gazing past façades, we must make space for nuance – honor the once invisible.
The Fertility Front: Biopolitics of Population Poetics
Now to the fertile terrain of population policies – the bedroom intimacies colliding with statecraft! Israel’s pronatalist incentives expose motives consonant with occupying regimes through history…the demographic battleground where bodies become soldiers.
Yet, I am reminded of Arundhati Roy’s words: “There’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.” If we peer past policy, might we glimpse the secret poetry of individual choice when reproductive futures hang in balance? What inner songs sound out when families weigh scientific possibilities against cherished beliefs? When genetic “defects” are defined, by whom – and by whose authority sentenced or spared?
This discourse would thrive, I believe, from embracing reproductive decisions not just as byproducts of state power but as complex personal turning points – crossroads of compromise between conscience and external constraints. Policy is but one vector; lived realities far messier and more multidimensional. Perhaps in listening to marginalized experiences around fertility, abortion and surrogacy, we may better stand in solidarity.
Surrogacy and LGBTQ Rights: Weaving Coatlicue’s Serpentine Identity
Now, surrogacy unfurls as a colorful fringe in this tapestry, interweaving queer family histories with state demographic designs. As previously discussed, the acceptance of formerly marginalized groups often correlates with positions of influence.
Yet even ingestion into the body politic rarely comes without complexity, as Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness knows. We contain diversity akin to ancient goddess Coatlicue’s serpentine locks – not easily subsumed or homogenized! I am reminded too of James Baldwin’s words: “I love America more than any other country in the world.” Yet also that “I refuse to accept…the things that white Americans have said they love.” Critical patriotism…loyalty laced with dissent.
In this spirit, could we move past framing Israeli LGBTQ citizens as simplistic pawns or proxies? Might some champion surrogacy rights precisely to resource those otherwise outcast? Could others within the community adopt critical stances – even opposing state policies seen as oppressing Palestinian kin, while benefiting from security and belonging themselves? Perhaps in exploring complexity within LGBTQ experience, new solidarities may emerge on all sides.
Retexturing the Narrative
Thus concludes our journey beyond borders – not into some utopian fantasy, but rather a landscape brimming with complications and contradictions everywhere transformed into opportunity! For in gazing past façades, essentialisms dissolve to reveal intricate humanity in all its forms.
Where to now? Perhaps a new discourse awaits – one truly incorporating voices once marginalized, addressing complex audiences, empowering testimony from multitudes. A platform nurturing empathy for struggles in all camps, binding up wounds from an insufficiently nuanced past.
As we have seen, simple binaries serve poorly to depict profound experience. Rather, reality resembles Gloria Anzaldúa’s coatlicue state – that fertile creative matrix, simultaneously constructive and destructive, harboring tremendous generative potential born of turbulence. Shall we midwife such creation together?
For beyond deconstructing oppression lies the creative burden – transmuting critique into care, spinning inclusion from threads of dissent, till a vibrant mosaic of liberation is all that remains. Who will take up such delicate work with me? Who will stand to retexture these tangled narratives into new patterns – both preserving uniqueness, yet interwoven and resilient enough for ardors ahead? Our work has just begun.
biopolitics, presentation for session #8: chapter 3: Disabled Diaspora, Rehabilitating State: The Queer Politics of Reproduction in Palestine/Israel
biopolitics, commentary on session #4: trans & disability
Our last seminar delved deep into the concept of “piecing” and how it relates to bodily integrity, autonomy, and identity formation in the Middle East. Piecing, as Jasbir Puar describes, involves the fragmentation and reconstitution of the body, often in response to violence and marginalization. It can be a means of asserting agency and reclaiming narrative.
In our robust group discussions, some key themes emerged:
Piecing as Reclaiming Identity
For trans individuals and people with disabilities in the Middle East, piecing allows the reassertion of an identity that dominant social norms delegitimize. Embodying gender transition or disability on one’s own terms resists narratives that label such bodies as “broken” or “abnormal.” As one participant noted, when society fragments you, piecing becomes an act of refusal.
The Commodification of Body Parts
We must critique how neoliberal capitalism intersects with piecing practices like medical tourism or organ trafficking. Within these systems, the body becomes a commodity—its parts assigned monetary value, accessibility dependent on ability to pay. This compromises bodily autonomy and raises ethical concerns. Who has the “right to maim” for profit?
Piecing as Ontological Multiplicity
Piecing also challenges static conceptions of identity. National, ethnic, religious, and gender identities in the Middle East are contested and in flux. Piecing embraces the coexistence of multiple identities within oneself, recognizing identity as an ever-evolving process rather than a fixed state.
Situating Trans Experiences
For trans people, piecing opens vital possibilities for embodying gender on their own terms. Yet we must also consider the broader context—cultural stigma, medical gatekeeping, lack of legal protections—that compromises trans bodily autonomy in much of the region. As one participant emphasized, realizing self-definition often remains an elusive struggle.
Ultimately, our dialogue revealed universal questions about bodily sovereignty, normalcy, and the relationship between individual and society. Piecing foregrounds the struggles for self-determination and belonging that marginalized communities face worldwide. It calls us to imagine a more just world, where all bodies can thrive in their own ways.
These discussions prompt deeper questions:
- How are queer and crip bodies portrayed in Middle Eastern media and popular culture? What counter-narratives exist?
- How do lived experiences of trans and disabled people from the region complicate Western assumptions and savior narratives?
- What traditional practices and communal care strategies exist in the Middle East that support bodily and psychic difference?
- How do we move beyond just “tolerance” or “visibility” and build a culture of true belonging?
- What would policies and societal changes that enhance bodily autonomy and integrity look like in this region and globally?
Our dialogues illustrated how the body becomes a lightning rod for core issues of identity, power and social justice. Piecing foregrounds the universal struggles for self-determination and belonging among marginalized communities worldwide. It calls us to imagine more just futures where all embodiments can thrive.
In our next session, we analyze how disabled bodies are impacted by nationalist projects, medical regimes and capitalism. This critical linkage between body, state and economy will expand our understanding of the forces shaping bodily autonomy.
biopolitics, presentation for session #3: chapter 1: Bodies with New Organs – Becoming Trans, Becoming Disabled
biopolitics, comment on chapter 1: Bodies with New Organs – Becoming Trans, Becoming Disabled
The first chapter of Jasbir Puar’s “The Right to Maim” delves into a complex interplay of bodies, identities, and the socio-political structures that govern them. Here are some essential findings and key takeaways, which we can then relate to the context of the Middle East:
- Somatechnologies and Social Bodies: Puar discusses the concept of somatechnologies, which refers to the ways in which demands for bodily alteration are also demands for new social bodies. This idea challenges neoliberal paradigms by emphasizing the interconnectedness of individual bodies and broader societal assemblages (page 50). In the Middle East, this can be seen in the context of gender reassignment surgery in Iran, where the state sanctions and subsidizes such surgeries. While on the surface this may appear as a progressive stance on transgender rights, it also enforces strict gender binaries and does not necessarily reflect a broader acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities.
- Transnormative Bodies and Neoliberalism: The chapter critiques the neoliberal celebration of bodily flexibility and the commodification of body parts, noting that the transnormative body that “pieces” is a reflection of market economies that value this piecing as a form of transgressive capacity when it is, in fact, constitutive of neoliberalism (page 56). The Middle East, particularly in the Gulf region, has seen a rise in medical tourism, cosmetic surgeries, and body modifications, driven by neoliberal market forces. Dubai, for instance, is becoming a hub for cosmetic surgery, reflecting the global commodification of body parts that Puar critiques. This trend raises questions about the ways in which economic liberalization influences body norms and ideals in the region.
- Intersectionality of Disability and Trans Identity: There is an exploration of the intersectionality between disability and trans identities, highlighting the exceptionalization of both trans and disabled bodies within socio-cultural and legal frameworks. This exceptionalization converts nonnormative debility into a form of social and cultural capacity (page 42). In the Middle East, the intersectionality of disability and trans identities can be particularly complex due to cultural, religious, and political factors. For example, in Iraq, transgender individuals face significant persecution, and those who are disabled due to war-related injuries may receive limited support and face social ostracization. The intersection of these identities can lead to compounded discrimination, where trans individuals who are also disabled may find themselves marginalized from both the broader society and within communities that advocate for either disability or LGBTQ+ rights. This intersectionality is critical to understand in regions affected by conflict, where the social infrastructure for support is often lacking, and where the bodies of disabled trans individuals can become sites of political, social, and medical contestation.
- Resistance and Control Economies: Puar engages with the idea of the body as a site of resistance to biopolitical control technologies, emphasizing the paradoxical condition of contemporary resistance where subjectivity is both an effect of control and a site of revolt (page 58). The concept of the body as a site of resistance is vividly illustrated in the Middle East by specific events and movements. For instance, during the Arab Spring, the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia was a stark and tragic act of resistance that catalyzed widespread protests. In Egypt, the occupation of Tahrir Square involved a collective embodiment of protest where physical presence became a form of resistance against the regime. Additionally, in Iran, the women’s movement against compulsory hijab-wearing, exemplified by the “White Wednesdays” campaign, sees women risking imprisonment by publicly removing their hijabs. These acts of resistance are not only against specific policies but also challenge the broader economies of control that govern bodies and behavior in public spaces. Puar’s work invites us to consider how these bodies resist and how resistance itself is commodified or controlled by state powers, which can be seen in the subsequent crackdowns and surveillance of activists in these regions.
- Race, Gender, and Speciation: The text discusses the concept of becoming trans as a deterritorializing force that relates to gender, sex, race, and species, challenging the normativities and creating intensive differences (page 60). The Middle East’s diverse ethnic and religious landscape provides a complex backdrop for examining the intersections of race, gender, and species. For instance, the treatment of migrant workers, often from South Asia, in Gulf countries, can be critiqued through Puar’s lens of speciation, where certain bodies are deemed less valuable and are subjected to harsher working and living conditions.
- Legal and Political Entanglements: Puar critically examines the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its role in shaping societal views and treatment of disability. The ADA, while groundbreaking, is argued to have inadvertently reinforced certain standards of bodily capacity and debility through the reproduction of gender normativity. This is integral to the productive potential of the disabled body. The Act is seen as creating a class of “untouchables” by allowing a space for permissible employer discrimination, particularly against those who do not conform to sexual and gender norms, marking them as outsiders. This legal framework contributes to what is termed “crip nationalism,” where certain disabilities are valorized as productive for national economies and ideologies, further marginalizing other disabilities. This tolerance of disability is negotiated through the disciplining of the body along other normative registers of sameness, including racial hierarchies (page 35).
- Israel: The complexities of the ADA’s counterpart in Israel, the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law, can be seen in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Disability rights within Israeli society are advanced compared to many other countries, but the situation for Palestinians, particularly those in the Occupied Territories, is markedly different. The intersection of disability with the racialized politics of occupation adds layers of marginalization for disabled Palestinians, who face barriers to mobility, healthcare, and social services.
- Iran: In Iran, the legal framework for disability is influenced by Islamic principles and the government’s approach to social welfare. The Iranian government has made efforts to integrate disabled individuals into society, but traditional gender norms can complicate this, especially for women with disabilities, who may face double discrimination based on both disability and gender expectations.
- Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has been working on improving disability rights and has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, the intersection of disability with gender can be particularly challenging due to the conservative nature of Saudi society, where gender roles are rigidly defined, and the guardianship system has only recently begun to be dismantled.
- Ontological Multiplicity: Puar introduces the concept of “ontological multiplicity,” which suggests an imagined affiliation between disability and trans identities. This affiliation is linked to racial and interspecies discourses that acknowledge the differentiation of variation and multiplicity (page 36). The idea here is that bodies are not fixed entities but are malleable composites of parts, capacities, and debilities. This perspective challenges the notion of discrete categories of identity and instead promotes a view of identities as fluid and interconnected.
- Lebanon: In Lebanon, the organization “The Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality (AFE)” works on issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression as well as disability rights. They advocate for inclusive health services that cater to both the LGBTQ+ community and individuals with disabilities. For example, AFE has highlighted the unique challenges faced by trans individuals with disabilities, who often experience compounded discrimination that is not adequately addressed by existing legal frameworks or social services.
- Iran: The Iranian context presents a paradox. While transgender individuals can legally undergo gender reassignment surgery and have their new gender recognized, this is often encouraged as a solution for homosexuality, which is criminalized. This situation creates a complex interplay between the state’s enforcement of a gender binary through medicalization and the lived reality of gender-diverse individuals who may not fit neatly into state-sanctioned categories. So, the seemingly progressive stance interms of re-assigning gender is complicated by the lack of support for those who don’t conform to post-surgical gender norms or for those who are disabled as a result of surgery.
Relating these takeaways to the Middle East, we can consider how the region’s complex socio-political landscape interacts with these concepts. For example, the Middle East’s history of colonialism, conflict, and socio-political movements provides a rich context for examining the intersectionality of identities and the body as a site of resistance. The neoliberal market economies prevalent in some parts of the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf states, can be critiqued through Puar’s analysis of transnormative bodies and neoliberalism.
For example, we can ask:
- How do neoliberal market economies in the Middle East contribute to the commodification of bodies, and how does this relate to Puar’s concept of the transnormative body?
- In what ways do the intersectional identities of disability and trans manifest in Middle Eastern societies, and how are they shaped by cultural, legal, and political forces?
- How might the body act as a site of resistance within the context of Middle Eastern geopolitics, and what forms might this resistance take?
biopolitics, commentary on session #1: preface and introduction
Maiming rights: between power and vulnerability
In the dimly lit corners of our collective consciousness, there lies a question, one that has been whispered in hushed tones in the grand halls of academia: What does it mean to have the right to maim? As I sat through the inaugural session of our biopolitics course, the weight of this question pressed somehow heavily upon me. It was like the sensation of a dense fog, obscuring the path ahead, yet beckoning me to venture deeper.
Jasbir Puar’s “The Right to Maim” is not just a book; it’s a provocation. It’s a challenge to our preconceived notions of power, control, and the human body. Remember Foucault’s musings on biopower? Puar takes it a step further, diving headfirst into the murky waters of debility, capacity, and disability. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
The preface of “The Right to Maim” is akin to the opening sequence of a gripping film. It sets the stage, introduces the characters, and hints at the drama to unfold. But what truly caught my attention was the introduction. It’s here that Puar lays out their thesis, drawing us into a world where the body is both a site of resistance and subjugation. It’s reminiscent of Orwell’s “1984,” where power is not just about control but also about the ability to inflict pain. But Puar goes beyond Orwell, asking: What if power is not just about the right to inflict pain, but also the right to maim?
Now, fellow thinkers, I invite you to pause for a moment.
[trigger warning: imaginations of pain and conflict]
Close your eyes and imagine a world where the state has the authority to maim its citizens. It’s a chilling thought, isn’t it? But as Puar argues, this is not just a dystopian fantasy. It’s a reality for many, especially in conflict zones. Think of the countless stories from war- and conflict- and terror-inflicted places, where bodies are broken, not just to punish, but to control.
But why maim?
Why not kill?
This is where Puar’s argument becomes particularly intriguing. Maiming, she suggests, is a form of biopolitical control. It’s about creating a population that is perpetually debilitated, dependent, and thus easier to control. It’s a Machiavellian strategy, one that is both cruel and effective.
Yet, as I sat in that seminar room, listening to the first reflections on ableness, disability, debility, and activisim, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is there a silver lining? Can the maimed body also be a site of resistance? Can it challenge the very power structures that seek to control it?
In the world of pop culture, the underdog is celebrated, the one who rises against all odds. Think of characters like Furiosa from “Mad Max: Fury Road” or Bran Stark from “Game of Thrones.” Both are physically debilitated, yet they challenge and subvert the power structures around them – to a certain degree, and, of course, a matter of interpretation. Can real-life maimed bodies do the same?
As we venture deeper into “The Right to Maim,” I invite you to join in on this intellectual journey. Let’s explore the nuances of Puar’s arguments, challenge their assumptions, and perhaps, just perhaps, find some answers to these pressing questions.
In the words of the great philosopher Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So let’s examine, let’s question, and let’s discover. After all, isn’t that what academia is all about?
biopolitics, session #4: chapter 1: Bodies with New Organs: Becoming Trans, Becoming Disabled
Read Puar, Jasbir K. 2017. The Right to Maim. Durham. Duke University Press. Chapter 1 “Bodies with New Organs: Becoming Trans, Becoming Disabled”. 33–62.
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