Defining "Transnational"

Grewal and Kaplan explain in “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality” the problematic use of the term “transformational” in the U.S. Academy. They explain how transformational has been defined interchangeably as migration, political economy, diasporic, neocolonialism, and “NGOization of social movements” (571). With these definitions of transformational, inequities and inequalities in other cultures have been ignored and minimized. This crosses over into sexuality as well. The West with its scholarship and influence has labeled other cultures as “primitive” in their sexuality practices.

While noting the problematic use of transformational, Grewal and Kaplan display the divides in the study of sexuality. They depict that the first divide is the “separation of sexuality from the study of race, class, nation, religion, and so on” (571). Grewal and Kaplan exhibit that the Western body or people are characterized as the normative body while all other cultures and people are regarded as primitive and abnormal. Science and scholarship has allowed the Western model to become the heteronormative for family and sexuality. The second divide would be the divide in international and American studies and its relation to sexuality. The third divide is the split between tradition and modernity. With this divide, the West labels the rest of the world as traditional and barbaric creating a binary divide. Finally the fourth divide would be the global and local spheres. This is where the local and global are considered opposing forces that “never contaminate each other” (573). Overall the purpose of the article is to raise a critique on the scholarship of sexuality globally. In addition to their critique, I believe Grewal and Kaplan should have provided an appropriate term of “transnational” that would improve the study of sexuality. What is the best definition of transnational? How can the divides in the scholarship of sexuality be eliminated?