Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Information Science

First Advisor

Vanessa Kitzie

Abstract

This community-based action research dissertation has two parts. First, through interviews with 25 trans adults in South Carolina, I asked how trans people use information to survive. The findings indicate that while trans people face significant financial, medical, legal, and social barriers, they are generally well-equipped to navigate them. I identified the following themes from the interviews: Identity practices shaped information outcomes. Participants' understanding of themselves as trans impacted how they evaluated and used information. 2) Participants preferred to find information from within trans communities. The internet was a popular place to seek information because it was a way for participants to extend their networks and build trans communities, improving their information access. 3) Participants’ information and identity practices were grounded in information literacy. Trans people proved to be the most reliable information source, contrary to common understandings about expertise and the unreliability of the internet and social media in particular. Participants were resourceful in evaluating and using information to overcome challenges and meet their needs. I argue that these information practices are resistant tactics, used creatively to respond to oppression. Intersecting identities such as race and disability impact information practice and trans people’s relationship with information and their genders. One of the primary ways participants resisted was by finding joy with other trans people. I argue that joy increases feelings of social safety and reduces health risk. Based on this reasoning, trans joy is a matter of health that health information research should attend to.

In the second part of the research, I collaborated with an advisory board of five trans adults in South Carolina. They assisted with the interview research by vetting the interview protocol and member checking the interview data, thereby reducing bias and increasing the study’s validity. There was also an action component to the research. The board argued that a lack of educational resources is the primary challenge facing trans people in South Carolina and designed a resource to address that challenge. Together, we created a guide to name change in South Carolina to reduce barriers to legal transition. This work has theoretical and methodological significance but also makes a tangible improvement to trans communities in South Carolina.

Rights

© 2025, Rhys R Dreeszen Bowman

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