Z Nicolazzo and ‘transformative change’

DeKALB – Northern Illinois University assistant professor Z Nicolazzo looked to literature, as a budding academic does, to learn about trans individuals.

“When I first understood myself as trans, I started reading books,” Nicolazzo said.

Nicolazzo uses the gender-neutral pronouns ze (pronounced ZEE) and hir (pronounced HEER) to identify, which are a combination of pronouns she, he, his and her.

It is difficult to determine just how many people identify as transgender, but anywhere from three to six times more people younger than 18 are identifying as trans than those older than 18, Nicolazzo said. This increasing number could continue to drive the conversation surrounding trans individuals to the forefront.

“If there wasn’t a call for action before, we as educators really need to get our environments in order for these students coming into college environments,” Nicolazzo said.

In hir research, Nicolazzo learned that many trans students have found themselves on the internet.

“One of my participants basically said the internet is their hometown,” Nicolazzo said. “I think it’s important for us on college campuses to think about. We normally think about environments as physical spaces, and in rural communities like DeKalb, it can sometimes be hard to connect to other people and resources.”

Although society has become more aware of trans people and their individual needs, Nicolazzo said adding all-gender restrooms and adding preferred pronouns to email signatures is not enough.

“These are great things, but I talk about them as necessary but insufficient,” Nicolazzo said. “I hate to be a little bit of a spoiled sport, but I’m not yet convinced that that is leading to transformative change on college campus[es].”

Advocates for trans individuals’ rights have faced pushback in their calls for businesses to install gender-neutral bathrooms. Those who oppose the idea believe it violates their rights to privacy.

Communities do not need to abolish gender, but simply open up possibilities for gender so everyone can live healthy lives, Nicolazzo said.

Nicolazzo’s research and course instruction have garnered attention, and that attention has not been exclusively positive. The research exposes systemic oppression, Nicolazzo said, which causes people to react in different ways.

“[I] realize that this is the rent I pay, living in a world and trying to make it a better place for folks,” Nicolazzo said.

Increasing awareness also has “uncomfortably” correlated with an increase in violence toward transgender individuals, especially those of color, Nicolazzo said.

Nicolazzo teaches several classes at NIU, including an equity and diversity course and a queer and feminist theories class for master’s students, and a research methods class for doctoral students.

Much of Nicolazzo’s previous research focused on trans students’ abilities to navigate college campuses.

Ze recently has branched out to include trans faculty members’ experiences in the classroom and submitted a grant application to do some work thinking about transgender women of color and their experiences in education.

Nicolazzo said ze tries to ensure hir participants are studied in a positive framework, as much of the existing research discussed how trans students did not live up to their cisgender peers – those who identify with their birth sex.

This research eventually turned into a book, “Trans* in College: Transgender Students’ Strategies for Navigating Campus Life and the Institutional Politics of Inclusion.”

Nicolazzo includes an asterisk in hir title as a nod to Boolean search functions. Adding an asterisk searches for that word plus any suffix. It is meant to resist the idea that all trans people biomedically transition or are transsexual, Nicolazzo said, and speak to the trans umbrella.

Despite some “jarring” negative responses to hir work, such as anonymous threatening phone messages, Nicolazzo enjoys cycling and walking hir dog around the DeKalb County area. Nicolazzo also appreciates being able to lean on hir colleagues, who have experienced similar situations, and hear their advice.