A Critical Discourse Analysis of an Australian Incarcerated Trans Woman's Letters of Complaint and Self‐Advocacy

Abstract

This case study provides a critical discourse analysis of 121 letters of complaint and self‐advocacy authored by Natasha Keating, a trans woman incarcerated in two Australian male correctional facilities from 2000 to 2007. During her incarceration, Natasha experienced victimization, misgendering, microaggression, and institutional discrimination. Despite this, Natasha embodied and “fought” against the injustices she experienced, whilst seeking to speak for other trans incarcerated persons also silenced and treated with indifference, contributing to changes in the carceral system. This original case study analyzes the discursive strategies Natasha employed to construct and reclaim an affirming self‐identity through a deliberate campaign to effect social change and policy concessions within a system designed to curtail self‐determination. Through her empathic and impassioned letter‐writing approach, leveraging a military metaphor, this novel analysis showcases the significant implications her activism/agentism and determination had in naming and seeking to dismantle the systems of oppression trans incarcerated women experience.

A trans agent of social change in incarceration: A psychobiographical study of Natasha Keating

“…The first dataset relating to Natasha consisted of a corpus of letters written by her between 2002 and 2007 while she was incarcerated. It is this corpus of letters that was used in the CDA study mentioned previously (Halliwell et al, 2022 ) as well as in a subsequent book chapter focusing on the use of military metaphor in Natasha's cognitive transformation (Halliwell et al, 2023 ). The archive consists of 162 documents that Natasha either wrote to (121 documents) or received from (41 documents) various individuals (e.g, friends, support agencies) within and outside of the carceral system in Australia with most of the documents spanning the period October 2005 to August 2006 (Table 2 ).…”

“…The letters were initially accessed by A. Brömdal, who copied and digitized the documents and shared them with the research team. The table below, which is reproduced from Halliwell et al ( 2022 ), details the contents of the archive.…”

“…The authors of this paper are concerned about the effects of discriminatory and inhumane trans incarceration policies and practices and are committed to documenting the lived experiences of trans women who have been or who are incarcerated in order to promote social change by supporting and upholding the human rights and health of incarcerated trans persons. While we acknowledge the impact of incarceration on both trans men and trans women, this paper forms part of a larger body of scholarship focusing specifically on the experiences of incarcerated trans women in Australia, as they are disproportionately affected by discrimination, violence, and other forms of victimization (Swan et al, 2022 ), placing trans women at higher risk of arrest and incarceration (Brömdal et al, 2022 ; Brömdal, Clark, et al, 2019 ; Brömdal, Mullens, et al, 2019 ; Halliwell et al, 2022 , 2023 ; Hughto et al, 2022 ; Phillips et al, 2020 ; Sanders et al, 2022 ). Our scholarship spans disciplines of clinical and health psychology, gender and trans studies, sociology, literary and historical narrative, education, public health, and critical policy analysis.…”

Narrativas de homens trans: uma análise discursiva no Facebook

“…Para tanto, as novas narrativas coletadas foram parafraseadas, analisadas metaforicamente, bem como delimitadas em suas condições de produção e contexto. A categoria de análise foi escolhida pelo fato de a análise do discurso visar a compreensão das condições nas quais um discurso foi produzido, sendo a partir (ZITZ et al, 2014;DIRKS, 2016;RIBEIRO;GOMES, 2020;WEST et al, 2021;SHOOK et al, 2022;HALLIWELL et al, 2022;JACOBSEN, 2022). Existem diferentes linhas de análise de discurso que caminham entre uma análise baseada em uma materialidade textual e outra análise mais baseada em práticas sociais e culturais (BUDD, 2006).…”

Victimization Within and Beyond the Prison Walls: A Latent Profile Analysis of Transgender and Gender Diverse Adults

“…Indeed, due to the stigma of having a gender identity or expression that does not align with socially constructed gender norms, TGD people are known to experience victimization throughout their lives including, bullying in adolescence, abuse (physical, sexual) in childhood and adulthood, and everyday discrimination and mistreatment across their lifespan (White Hughto et al, 2015; Ybarra et al, 2014). As illustrated by the TGD Oppression-to-Incarceration framework (Clark et al, in press), discrimination can restrict access to material and financial resources for TGD people, including employment and housing, leading some TGD individuals to turn to street economies, such as sex work for economic survival (Brömdal, Clark et al, 2019; Garofalo et al, 2006; Grant et al, 2011; Mizock & Mueser, 2014; Nemoto et al, 2011; Halliwell et al, in press). In fact, several studies have found sex work to be a primary predictor of lifetime incarceration in transgender women (Hughto et al, 2019).…”