Feminist and LGBTQ+ Studies

Abstract

This presentation examines a rupture between a transgender woman and a cisgender man in a therapeutic group, using this moment of tension, misrecognition, and repair to explore how gendered power, epistemic injustice, and recognition unfold in relational encounters. While the setting is clinical, the dynamics mirror broader social structures shaping trans intelligibility, legitimacy, and exclusion. Drawing from Fraser’s theory of social justice, Honneth’s mutual recognition, Rosa’s resonance and alienation, and Spivak’s critique of epistemic injustice, the discussion traces how trans identities are positioned, contested, and negotiated within systems of authority and power. The case study illustrates how trans participants in group spaces must navigate both hypervisibility and illegibility, as their identities are often subjected to scrutiny and defensive resistance while remaining structurally marginalized. These dynamics are not only theoretical but deeply implicated in the positionality of cisgender men, including myself, who participate in processes of recognition and misrecognition. The rupture within the group was not merely an interpersonal conflict but an affective and epistemic event exposing unconscious gendered structures. Beyond allyship, the presentation considers how cisgender individuals can participate in transforming relational power, knowledge production, and institutional practices, creating conditions for meaningful trans recognition and justice.

Biography

Matthew Rich- Tolsma is a South African and Dutch organisational consultant, teacher, and scholar. His work is largely focused on issues concerning violence, decoloniality, and the transformative power of empathy. His work integrates group analytic thinking with critical pedagogy, pragmatic philosphy, process sociology, applied nonviolence, decoloniality, and the performing arts. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Educational and Social Equity, and the Royal Society of Arts, serve sas President of the Board of the Centre for Nonviolent Communication, and serves on the board of Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, Inc.