The book provides a detailed analysis of important work in queer and trans studies over the past thirty years. Stretching from early figures (such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Cathy Cohen, José Muñoz, and Sandy Stone) to the most recent scholarship, it offers a rich account of these fields' major ideas and contributions while indicating how they have evolved. Centering race and empire, the book offers extended discussion of work in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American studies as well as engaging the Global South. The Introduction further addresses historical considerations of sexuality and gender identity, and queer and trans temporalities, while also providing a robust account of social and political movements that preceded the emergence of queer and trans studies as scholarly fields. Accessible for those unfamiliar with these areas of study, it is also a great resource for those already working in them.

‘Mark Rifkin has done it! He has written a truly outstanding introduction to queer and trans studies that is actually readable for undergraduates and offers specialists a treasure trove of insight and new ways of conceptualizing and framing the field. It will be the definitive introductory text for many years to come and is a true gem for any syllabus.’

Benjamin A. Kahan - Professor of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at LSU

‘Positing queer and trans studies, not as diagnostics for identity, but as critical analytics for understanding their function in a hostile world, this vital text historicizes the conceptual and theoretical terrain. Thoughtfully organized, and accessibly written, it offers students and scholars incisive strategies for reading the provocative questions and generative concerns that have made these fields indispensable sites for academic inquiry. Positing queer and trans studies, not as diagnostics for identity, but as critical analytics for understanding their function in a hostile world, this vital text historicizes the ground, offering students and scholars incisive strategies for reading the questions and concerns that have made these fields indispensable sites for academic inquiry.’

Juana María Rodríguez - Professor at UC Berkeley, Department of Ethnic Studies