Based on an ethnography of clinical practices around gender-nonconforming and transgender children in the United States, this article explores the cultural and scientific notions of identity that shape this field. It examines the practice of diagnosing true gender identity in the clinic and situates the search for the foundation of identity in the inner depths of the self, and in children as harbingers of authenticity, as part of a broader cultural history. It addresses the scientific substantiation of the faith in innateness (“born this way”) and interiority (“from within”) of identity, as well as their political appeal. This article challenges the often taken-for-granted association of science with materialism—and the distribution of matter-idea along the nature–culture axis—by demonstrating the idealism that drives the siting of identity in the brain. Finally, it questions the assumption that it is the appeal of nature and biology that underlies the cultural attachment to entities such as the gene and the brain as locations for the origin of identity in the contemporary United States. Rather than the nature–culture dyad, this article argues that the internal-external dyad more accurately captures and explains this cultural attachment.

中文翻译：

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深入大脑：小儿性别转变中的身份和真实性

基于围绕美国性别不合格和跨性别儿童的临床实践民族志，本文探讨了塑造这一领域的文化和科学认同概念。它研究了在诊所诊断真实性别身份的做法，并在自我内心深处寻找身份的基础，并在儿童中作为真实性的先驱者，作为更广泛的文化历史的一部分。它涉及对身份的先天性（“以这种方式出生”）和内在性（“从内部”）及其政治诉求的科学证明。本文通过展示驱动大脑中身份认同定位的理想主义，挑战了科学与唯物主义经常被视为理所当然的联系以及物质思想在自然-文化轴上的分布。最后，它质疑一种假设，即自然和生物学的吸引力是对诸如基因和大脑等实体作为当代美国身份起源地的文化依附的基础。本文认为，与自然文化的二分法不同的是，内外二分法更准确地捕获并解释了这种文化依恋。它质疑这样一种假设，即自然和生物学的吸引力是对诸如基因和大脑等实体作为当代美国身份起源地的文化依附的基础。本文认为，与自然文化的二分法不同的是，内外二分法更准确地捕获并解释了这种文化依恋。它质疑这样一种假设，即自然和生物学的吸引力是对诸如基因和大脑等实体作为当代美国身份起源地的文化依附的基础。本文认为，与自然文化的二分法不同的是，内外二分法更准确地捕获并解释了这种文化依恋。