transtopia: trans-planetary thinking and staying with the change

What if transition is not a phase to pass through, but the defining condition of our time?

Presented at the 8th Annual Trans Pride Conference in Sao Paulo Brazil, this lecture explored a framework for trans planetary futures, grounded in the lived experience of gender transition and informed by the relational dynamics of more-than-human worlds. Drawing from trans* ecology, speculative futures, and multispecies theory, it proposes transtopic thinking as a method for navigating ongoing transformation, where futures are not endpoints but active, entangled processes.

In the prolonged turbulence of a post-normal world, where ecological, social, and ontological systems remain in flux, we may be entering a centuries-long interval of transformation. No fixed destination. No singular horizon. Only the complex presence of continuous change. To inhabit such a time requires forms of thought and practice that remain responsive within uncertainty. It demands fluid, adaptive, and iterative modes of engagement, and non-binary perspectives are uniquely positioned to lead this work, grounded in the lived experience of ongoing change and fluent in creating futures from within flux.

What becomes possible when we approach transition as a generative condition, where new forms, relations, and futures are composed in motion? Rather than reinforcing the binary arc of utopia and dystopia, transtopia is offered as a conceptual terrain shaped by multiplicity, instability, and transformation.