Dissonance and dissidence:

subverting cislingualism in dangerous times

Cite as: Knisely, K. (30 January 2026). Dissonance and dissidence: subverting cislingualism in dangerous times. Stanford.

Abstract: Language educators have long since recognized that learning to do language in new ways is social, and the push to engage this relationality through justice-focused approaches has more recently gained considerable traction in the field. Over the course of the past decade, this conversation has begun to include gender-justice, albeit not without a mix of resistance, inertia, missteps, and cislation. In a time where the power of language to prefigure new social and relational possibilities is ever more poignant, we –as language educators– must contend with the pervasiveness of cislingualism (i.e., the valuing of cisnormative cultures of language and the ideologies that inflect them). In this session, we will engage distinctly trans approaches to language (e.g., trans translanguaging, direct and indirect nonbinary languaging) to explore the role of trans knowledges in language education (e.g., language-as-social-verb, learning-as-participation, prefigurative politics, (in)effability, agency, undoing competence). In keeping, we will consider the limits of inclusionary approaches, the possibilities for coalition- and community-based capacity building, and the power of gender-just education. Open access resources will be provided.

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