https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i4.069
Translocated Embodiment: Neuroscience, Space, and Activism in Transgender Narratives
DR. SARITHA K.
Vice Principal and Assistant Professor of English
Al Shifa College of Arts and Science, Kizhattoor, Perinthalmanna, Kerala
DR. ANUPAMA MURALI
Assistant Professor
Department of English
MES College Marampally, Aluva, Kerala
Abstract: Transgender bodies are frequently subjected to scrutiny, rejection, and systemic exclusion. Within the framework of Foucauldian power dynamics, transgender individuals encounter multiple forms of marginalization, compounded by familial rejection and institutional silencing. Analysing the memoirs of Revathi and Manobi reveals how their bodies are exposed to diverse spatial contexts—domestic, medical, educational, and professional—that significantly shape gender expression and behaviour. Drawing on embodiment theory, the study underscores that gender is not static but dynamic, continually negotiated through lived experience and relational environments. Revathi’s trajectory from ridicule and medical neglect to activism demonstrates how trauma inscribes itself upon the body yet can be translocated into resilience. Manobi’s experiences of abuse, workplace discrimination, and institutional denial similarly highlight how hostile spaces constrain identity, while affirming spaces—student acceptance, informed medical care—enable renegotiation. These narratives illustrate Butler’s performativity, Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, and Ihde’s mediation of space, showing that embodiment evolves across environments, shifting between repression and affirmation. The paper further engages with Walsh and Einstein’s situated neuroscience, which emphasises that neural identity is enacted through the interaction among body, brain, and environment, and with Sharon Vaisvaser’s concept of peripersonal space, which contracts under threat and expands in supportive relations. Trauma and psychological distress are embodied neural processes triggered by hostile contexts, while resistance and resilience emerge when bodies find affirming spaces. Ultimately, the study concludes that activism functions as embodied healing. By transforming personal suffering into collective resistance, Revathi and Manobi reshape the discourse of care, situating transgender narratives at the heart of health humanities. Their lived experiences demonstrate that healing is not only clinical but cultural, enacted through activism that reclaims dignity, resilience, and community.
Keywords: Embodiment Theory, Health Humanities, Peripersonal Space, Spatial Identity, Situated Neuroscience, Transgender Activism, Trauma and Resistance
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