Attunements to Trans History

In this chapter, I cull a set of attunements for tracking trans history in the archives, especially a history of trans poetics. Turning to stories of trans life at the Five Colleges as well as traditional archive theory, I think the comportments that pull trans into the frame, as much as the limitations of that frame itself. First, I cull four attunements from archive theory: attunements to the an-archive, to the edge, to feelings, and to silence. I then follow-out, test, and extend these attunements through Five College stories. Trans theorists and folks on the ground challenge us to think trans not as a constant, simple edge that is always the site of marginalization but rather to think the gray spaces of trans itself and the poetic complexities trans covers over. They also invite us to interrogate how and why we become attached to specific trans stories (and trans edges) over others and what larger projects those attachments can serve.