Abstract:

This article examines the situated language practices of Susana, a trans woman originally from Mexico who has lived in the US Southwest for over two decades, during a 90-minute, in-depth sociolinguistic interview. The aim of this analysis is to examine the interconnectedness of coming out, migration, physical transformation (hormones, gender confirmation surgery), and ageing, with a particular focus on the indexing of time, space and transition. Methodologically, the qualitative analysis relies the concept of 'thicker intersectionalities' and employs a sociolinguistic approach to narrative analysis. Specifically, the analysis seeks to address how the concepts of the body, time, space, and transition are brought along into the narrative or brought about in the narrative, how these concepts are made relevant to a range of contexts (story-world, interview setting, beyond), how this works to make intersectionality visible, and how this visible intersectionality undermines dominant understandings of trans bodies, transition, and migration.