Shifting power, subverting cislingualism:

Gender-justice in language education

Cite as: Knisely, K. (25 September 2025). Shifting power, subverting cislingualism: Gender-justice in language education. Institute of World Languages Speaker Series. University of Virginia.

Abstract: Language –a social and relational act– is one of few, if not the mechanism through which we make ourselves known. As we language, we prefigure new possibilities for the collective imaginary, for the worlds in which we live and those we wish to bring into being. That these worlds are so frequently manifested within rigid gender binaries illustrates the power and 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 and linguistics (e.g., trans translanguaging, direct and indirect nonbinary languaging) to explore the role of trans epistemologies in gender justice (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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