Constructing Anthropological Expertise: Community Support and Legal Partnership in Transgender Cases

ABSTRACTAnthropologists working with marginalised populations in need of legal representation have faced challenges spanning epistemological, methodological and ethical questions. In the provision of evidence to legal-administrative processes, how do we overcome some of the obstacles in solving these problems? In this paper, we discuss our experience working through the case of a transgender asylum seeker from Mexico in the United States and the case of socio-cultural and legal concerns of a transgender youth in Los Angeles. The three partners in this paper are a socio-cultural anthropologist (Ngin), an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles (Yeh) and a community professional who works extensively with undocumented college students (Borjon). In Ngin’s preparation of the cultural argument for the asylum case of the transgender person, it was Borjon’s network of community contacts that provided the additional evidence for the case. As the case was delayed in the legal process, Attorney Yeh’s legal insight explains the best course of action for the petitioner. In the second case of the young transgender youth, we discussed the precarity of the youth’s situation and the possibility of socio-legal protection. In our analysis of these two cases, we discussed how we arrived at legally sound concepts with evidence supported by anthropological analytical methods while ensuring transparency of the provenance of evidence to meet ethical principles. Through these consultations in the construction of anthropological expertise, we also hope to decolonise expertise.KEYWORDS: TransgenderMichoacáncultural expertiseknowledge constructionUSA Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Good (Citation2007).2 Campbell (Citation2013).3 Ngin (Citation2018).4 Rodriguez (Citation2020).5 Annals of Anthropological Practice. (Citation2022), 44–115.6 Holden (Citation2020), pp. 25–277 Rose (Citation2022).8 One of the gay cases from China is in Ngin (Citation2023)9 Ngin (Citation2018).10 Ngin, Borjon, and Yeh (Citation2017).11 Wayne, Adena L. (Citation2016)12 Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211 at 233 (emphasis added).13 See Matter of C-A-23, I&N Dec. 951; Matter of M-E-V-G, 26 I&N Dec. 227; and Matter of W-G-R, 26 I&N Dec. 208.14 World Health Organization. (Citation2008).15 Diehl et al. (Citation2017 Aug).16 Renteln (Citation2004).17 See Holden’s discussion in Holden (Citation2021).18 Ngin had considered recommending CGRS at UC Hastings Law School and the Cornell Law Transgender Clinic, two non-profits with expertise on transgender cases, but were mindful that Zee was Attorney RC’s paying client.19 Norma and Libby are both pseudonyms.20 Press Release, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Servs. Admin., U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Citation2022). HHS Announces $ 40.22 Million in Youth Mental Health Grants Awarded in August Plus 47.6 Million in New Grant Funding Opportunities for School-Based Mental Health Program, available at https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20220901/hhsannounces-awarding-youth-mental-health-grants.21 California Assembly Bill No. 1314 on Gender Identity: parental notification. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fleginfo.legislature.ca.gov%2Ffaces%2FbillNavClient.xhtml%3Fbill_id%3D202320240AB1314&data=05%7C01%7Ccngin%40exchange.calstatela.edu%7C7a39a3f7efd6462d080208dba9116801%7Cce8a2002448f4f5882b1d86f73e3afdd%7C0%7C0%7C638289664478713911%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qOXMph6288cxr50LnFgoyOc9xufDx%2Fv1xvi9IVeRs0A%3D&reserved=022 Ghorayshi (Citation2002).23 Zotigh (Citation2020).24 Cornell-Brian (Citation2022).25 See Hernandez-Montiel, 225 F.d at 1087.26 Id. at 1094.27 Jenkins (Citation2009).28 Avendano-Hernandez v. Lynch, 800 F.3d 1072, 1081 (9th Cir. 2015).29 Id. (emphasis added).30 Id.31 Vogler (Citation2019).32 Cheney et al. (Citation2017).33 Hernandez-Montiel, 225 F.3d at 1084.34 Id.35 Avendano-Hernandez, 800 F.3d at 1082.36 See also Barnes (Citation2019).37 Anne and Kirkpatrick (Citation2022).38 Anne and Kirkpatrick (Citation2022).