Transgenderidentitiesandotherformsofgenderandsexualitythattranscendthenormativeposeimportantquestionsaboutsociety,culture,politics,andhistory.Theyforceustoquestion,forexample,theforcesthatdividehumanityintotwogendercategoriesandrenderthemnecessary,inevitable,andnatural.Thetransgenderalsoexposesahostofdynamicsthat,atfirstglance,havelittletodowithgenderorsex,suchasprocessesofpoweranddomination;thecomplexrelationshipamongagency,subjectivity,andstructure;andthemutualconstitutionoftheglobalandthelocal.
Particularlyintriguingisthefactthatgenderandsexualdiversityappeartobemoreprevalentinsomeregionsoftheworldthaninothers.Thiseditedvolumeisanexplorationofthewaysinwhichnon-normativegenderingandsexualityinonesuchregion,thePacificIslands,areimplicatedinawiderangeofsocio-culturaldynamicsthatareatoncelocalandglobal,historicalandcontemporary.Theauthorsrecognizethatdifferentsocialconfigurations,culturalcontexts,andhistoricaltrajectoriesgeneratediversewaysofbeingtransgenderacrossthesocietiesoftheregion,buttheyalsoacknowledgethatthesedifferencesareoverlaidwithcommonalitiesandpredictabilities.Ratherthanfocusonthedefinitionofidentities,theyengagewiththefactthatidentitiesdothings,thattheyareperformedineverydaylife,thattheyaretransformedthrougheventsandmovements,andthattheyareconstantlynegotiated.Byaddressingthecomplexitiesofthesequestionsovertimeandspace,thisworkprovidesamodelforfutureendeavorsthatseektoembeddynamicsofgenderandsexualityinabroadfieldoftheoreticalimport.