Leiden University Student Repository

Ransden, Brenna (2025)

The Bureaucracy of Gender: Administrative Violence and Trans Resistance in America from 2015-2025

Master thesis | Public Administration (MSc)

This case study examines how administrative systems distribute life chances through identity documentation requirements, focusing on transgender experiences in the United States from 2015-2025. Using critical trans politics theory and mixed methods—including policy analysis across 50 states, digital ethnography of r/asktransgender (809 posts), and interviews with transgender organizers — the research investigates how seemingly neutral bureaucratic processes create systemic and violent barriers for transgender people seeking to obtain identity documents that reflect their lived identities. Findings reveal that administrative violence against transgender people occurs at the federal and state levels, regardless of partisan control. The study documents extensive transgender solidarity networks providing mutual aid in all aspects of navigating documentation processes. This work advances understanding of how bureaucratic systems perpetuate settler colonial violence while highlighting...Show moreThis case study examines how administrative systems distribute life chances through identity documentation requirements, focusing on transgender experiences in the United States from 2015-2025. Using critical trans politics theory and mixed methods—including policy analysis across 50 states, digital ethnography of r/asktransgender (809 posts), and interviews with transgender organizers — the research investigates how seemingly neutral bureaucratic processes create systemic and violent barriers for transgender people seeking to obtain identity documents that reflect their lived identities. Findings reveal that administrative violence against transgender people occurs at the federal and state levels, regardless of partisan control. The study documents extensive transgender solidarity networks providing mutual aid in all aspects of navigating documentation processes. This work advances understanding of how bureaucratic systems perpetuate settler colonial violence while highlighting transgender communities' remarkable resilience and resistance strategiesShow less

transgender

queer studies

critical trans politics

administrative violence

identity documentation

abolition

collective liberation

Author

Ransden, Brenna

Faculty

Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs

Specialisation

International and European Governance

Supervisors

Salazar Morales, D.A.

ECTS Credits

20

Evaluation

Recommended

Language

en