Trans(gressing) Visibilities: Paradoxes of Presence in the Political Representation of Minority Interests

This research interrogates the concepts of visibility and presence in the political representation of minority interests. The tendency to assume that presence is an always necessary and always beneficial aspect of political representation theory has hindered progress in the field. Focusing on transgender and gender diverse peoples in Flanders, Belgium, this research conducted thematic analysis on nine semi-structured interviews to construct rich understandings of how political representation can “make present” people who are vulnerable to hypervisibility. Building from the constructivist turn in political representation theory, I emphasised the multidirectional impacts of claims-making on the perceptions and agency of the represented. By redeploying gender and diversity theory and trans literature, this research addressed Billard et al.’s (2020) calls for trans-specific modes of (political) representation. In turn, these trans-focused findings illustrate a broader context of power-laden social dynamics and facilitate insight into the role of alliance and minorities in political representation. Developed within the fundamental tension between the need to make present political interests and the vulnerability that this presence may invite, this research considers the ways in which physical presences do not always aide or project a political presence. This research targets the understudied impacts of political discourses on trans people in Flanders and demands considerations of power in the creation of political representation. The nuance I aim to lend to our conception of “political presence” offers new insight into what political representation might look like for those who were historically excluded.