Queer & Trans Research Symposium

Keynote by Amy Brainer

Amy Brainer (she/her) is the director of LGBTQ+ Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and an associate professor of women’s & gender studies. She conducts research on trans and queer kinship, queer immigration through marriage, and friendship. Her first book, Queer Kinship and Family Change in Taiwan, was awarded the Ruth Benedict Book Prize by the Association for Queer Anthropology. She is now working on a second book project about intimacy and grief in the context of a friend breakup or the death of a friend. At Dearborn, she is faculty advisor to two organizations serving LGBTQ+ students and queer students with Middle Eastern and North African heritage. She teaches courses on "LGBTQ+ Religious Experience," "Hope and Joy in Queer and Trans Lives," and other queer topics from a global and transnational perspective.