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"YOUR VAGUE EDGES ESCAPE ME:" ON TRANSGENDER VOICES, THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY, AND HEALING THROUGH MUSIC

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First Reader Ursula Heinrich
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 Semester Fall 2022
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Heinrich, Ursula
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Fall 2022
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2022
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http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/11620
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ABSTRACT Background: Little academic research is currently available on transgender communities' relationships with music. There is also a need to examine ways transgender people might connect with their community and in self-expression. Objective: In order to further examine the healing capabilities of music for transgender individuals, music's relationships to community and voice in transgender communities are further examined. Design and Method: The research method is designed qualitatively, based primarily on a review of academic articles. There is a small section relating to personal experience as a transgender individual as well. Selected articles from various fields of thought dating from 1988 to 2020 were synthesized to draw out comparable information. Information was primarily sorted into the categories of healing, voice, and community in order to answer the research question: How can music, by providing potential opportunities in finding community and in nurturing an expressive form of voicing, serve as a tool for transgender individuals to experience healing? Results: Music shows many active modes of community formation, healing potential, and possibilities for aiding in the finding of a 'voice.' Through the process of connecting trans individuals and themselves as individuals, music allows trans people to engage otherwise repressed and oppressed voices while healing themselves. Conclusions: While music has healing capabilities for all individuals, its importance to the transgender community is greatly important. Trans people have less access to like-minded individuals than their cisgender counterparts, and there is a culture of punitiveness around non-hegemonic and non-normative gender expression. Music can bridge this gap and allow trans individuals to their larger community and nurture voices that have been silenced. Keywords: Transgender, Music, Healing, Community, Self-Expression
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