Kortney Ryan Ziegler#STILL BLACK: a portrait of black transmen

{{Infobox person

| name = Kortney Ryan Ziegler

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|12|15}}

| birth_place = Compton, California, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| other_names = Shane B. Star

| occupation = {{hlist|Filmmaker|visual artist|writer|blogger|technologist}}

| website = {{url|http://kortneyrziegler.net}}

| education = Northwestern University (PhD)
San Francisco State University (MA)
University of California, Santa Cruz (BA){{When|date=January 2015}}{{Cite web |url=http://blackademic.com/c-v/ |title=C.V. | blac (K) ademicblac (K) ademic |access-date=2015-01-20 |archive-date=2014-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229211020/http://blackademic.com/c-v/ |url-status=dead }}

}}

Kortney Ryan Ziegler (born December 15, 1981) is an American entrepreneur, filmmaker,{{cite web|last=Vallejos|first=Jorge Antonio|title=Portraits of Black Trans Men|url=http://www.colorlines.com/archives/2009/07/portraits_of_black_trans_men.html|work=ColorLines Magazine|publisher=Applied Research Center|accessdate=September 11, 2010|date=July 29, 2009|archive-date=August 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809063036/http://www.colorlines.com/archives/2009/07/portraits_of_black_trans_men.html|url-status=dead}} visual artist, blogger, writer,{{cite web |last=Moore |first=Lisa |date=September 15, 2007 |title=thank you |url=http://www.redbonepress.com/books/doesyourmamaknow |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730113230/http://www.redbonepress.com/books/doesyourmamaknow/ |archivedate=July 30, 2010 |accessdate=September 11, 2010 |work=Does Your Mamma Know? |publisher=RedBone Press}} and scholar based in Oakland, California.{{cite web|last=Sibery|first=Michelle|title=Framing race, sexuality|url=http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c/New_Voices/d/Framing_race,_sexuality|work=The Chicago Reporter|publisher=Community Renewal Society|accessdate=September 11, 2010|date=September 15, 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227162440/http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c/New_Voices/d/Framing_race,_sexuality|archivedate=December 27, 2010}}{{cite web|last=Robie|first=Tehea|title=Kortney Ryan Ziegler's Crying Room|url=http://oaklandlocal.com/article/queer-oakland-kortney-ryan-ziegler%E2%80%99s-crying-room|work=Oakland Local|publisher=Oakland Local|accessdate=November 22, 2010|date=October 20, 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129144747/http://oaklandlocal.com/article/queer-oakland-kortney-ryan-ziegler%E2%80%99s-crying-room|archivedate=November 29, 2010}} His artistic and academic work focuses on queer or trans issues, body image, racialized sexualities, gender, and black queer theory.

Biography

Ziegler was born in Compton, California. Raised in a family of single black women, his mother struggled with mental illness and drug abuse. According to Ziegler's personal essay, his father was absent, and he lived with three alcoholic uncles who inflicted physical and emotional abuse on the women in his family.{{Cite news |date=2014-10-27 |title=The Education of a Scholar Who Chose to Become a Black Man |url=http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Education-of-a-Scholar-Who/149571/ |url-access=registration |access-date=2016-11-16 |newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education}}

He was the first in his family to attend a post-secondary institution. He went on to pursue his master's degree at San Francisco State University and later his PhD at Northwestern University. When he began his doctoral program, he indicated he was female, but during this time, he slowly began his transition. In his third year he began to identify as genderqueer and started taking hormones. In 2011 he began to defend his dissertation on queer, black, and Latino filmmakers. He was the first person to receive a PhD in African-American studies from Northwestern University.{{Cite web |last=Zain |first=Haneen |title=Innovation at the intersection: An alum's trailblazing ventures in tech, film, and social change |url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2024/02/kortney-ryan-ziegler.html |access-date=2024-05-13 |website=UC Santa Cruz News |language=en}}

He currently resides in Oakland, California.{{As of when|date=June 2024}}

Career

= ''blac (k) ademic'' =

From 2003 to 2006, Ziegler maintained a black queer feminist blog, blac (k) ademic.{{Cite web |url=http://blackademic.com/ |title="blac (k) ademic - critical essays by Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler". |access-date=2013-04-09 |archive-date=2013-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409202247/http://blackademic.com/ |url-status=dead }} The blog is on the topic of gender and sexuality from a young black queer academic perspective.{{cite web |last=Ziegler |first=Kortney |title=Academic Blogging as Intercultural Exchange |url=http://www.aacu.org/ocww/volume36_2/fromwhereisit.cfm?section=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710024438/http://www.aacu.org/ocww/volume36_2/fromwhereisit.cfm?section=2 |archive-date=July 10, 2010 |accessdate=September 11, 2010 |work=From Where I Sit |publisher=Association of American Colleges and Universities}}

Ziegler's radical stance positioned the experiences of women of color as the locus of his feminist analysis.{{cite web|last=De Leon|first=Celina|title=The Segregated Blogosphere|url=http://www.colorlines.com/archives/2007/03/the_segregated_blogosphere.html|work=ColorLines Magazine|publisher=Applied Research Center|date=2007-03-01|accessdate=September 11, 2010|archive-date=2011-07-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718234640/http://www.colorlines.com/archives/2007/03/the_segregated_blogosphere.html|url-status=dead}} Ziegler shut down the blog due to the many negative comments he was receiving. blac (k) ademic went on to receive the award for Best Topical Blog in the first annual Black Weblog Awards in 2006. It relaunched in November 2012 and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award{{Cite news|url=http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2013/01/17/gladd-announces-media-award-nominees/|title=GLADD Announces Media Award Nominees – Philadelphia Magazine|date=2013-01-17|work=Philadelphia Magazine|access-date=2018-01-19|language=en-US}} and a Transguy Community Award.{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/kortney-ryan-ziegler-interview_n_2680260.html|title=Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Transgender Filmmaker, Talks Movies, Race And Advocacy|last=Morgan|first=Glennisha|date=February 27, 2013|work=Huffington Post|access-date=January 25, 2018}}

= ''STILL BLACK: a Portrait of Black Transmen'' =

Premiering in 2008, STILL BLACK: a Portrait of Black Transmen was conceived during the years Ziegler was a doctoral student in the department of African-American studies at Northwestern University. The film explores the theme of female-to-male transgender transition in the African American community.{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2015/05/TransDocumentaries1.pdf|title=Feminist Visions Diversifying and Complicating Representations of Trans Lives: Five Documentaries about Gender Identity|last=Ryan|first=Joelle|date=Summer 2010|website=|publisher=Women Studies Librarian|access-date=November 16, 2016|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908073250/http://www.library.wisc.edu/gwslibrarian/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2015/05/TransDocumentaries1.pdf|url-status=dead}} Ziegler and his producer, Awilda Rodríguez Lora, provided the initial financial investment. They employed a grassroots fundraising method, using social networking to secure funds to complete the project.

=Technology=

In 2013, Ziegler launched Trans*H4ck, an organizational hub intended for trans people to collaborate on technical projects. It first began as a two-day hackathon.{{Cite journal|date=2014-05-01|title=Interview with Kortney Ryan Ziegler of the Trans*H4CK Project|url=http://tsq.dukejournals.org/content/1/1-2/280|journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly|language=en|volume=1|issue=1–2|pages=280–284|doi=10.1215/23289252-2400253|issn=2328-9252|doi-access=free}}

Along with Tiffany Mikell, he also founded BSMdotCo, an educational technology startup company.{{Cite web|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/inclusive-tech-entrepreneur-kortney-ryan-ziegler/Content?oid=4932891|title=Inclusive Tech Entrepreneur: Kortney Ryan Ziegler|last=Lovemonster|first=Kelly|website=East Bay Express|date=9 August 2016|access-date=2016-11-16}} They both created Aerial Spaces, a video-based forum.

In 2017, Ziegler and Mikell co-founded Appolition.us to try to help incarcerated Black people return to their families by allowing users to round up purchases to the nearest dollar and donate the funds to funding bail costs. The app was supported through crowdfunding after a tweet from Ziegler in July 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://newsone.com/3761762/bail-app-kortney-ziegler-appolition/|title=App Turns Small Change Into Bail Donations For Black People|date=2017-11-28|work=News One|access-date=2018-10-13|language=en-US}}

Honors and awards

2006 Best Topical Blog, Black Weblog Awards – blac (k) ademic
2009 Best Documentary, Reelout Queer Film + Video Festival – STILL BLACK: a portrait of black transmen
Trans 100 Honoree
2013 GLAAD Media Award Nomination for Outstanding Blog
2013 Empowerment Award, Black Transmen, Inc.
2013 Outstanding Transgender Service, The Esteem Awards
2013 Top 40 Under 40 LGBT Activist, The Advocate
2013 Authentic Life Award, Transgender Law Center
2017 Diablo magazine's 40 Under 40 award winner

References

External links

[http://www.blackademic.com blackademic.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927184527/http://blackademic.com/ |date=2019-09-27 }}
[https://modelviewculture.com/authors/kortney-ziegler Kortney Ziegler at] Model View Culture
{{Twitter}}

Category:1981 births

Category:Living people

Category:Filmmakers from California

Category:African-American feminists

Category:American male feminists

Category:Men and masculinities scholars

Category:Transgender male artists

Category:Transgender male writers

Category:American transgender writers

Category:African-American LGBTQ people

Category:LGBTQ people from California

Category:Transfeminists