Signifying “others” or signs of life? This book critically examines the ways in which crossing se... more Signifying “others” or signs of life? This book critically examines the ways in which crossing sex and gender is imagined in key cultural texts from contemporary Latin America. Unlike previous studies, Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America does not hold that sexually diverse figures are always and only performative or allegorical and instead places the accent on questions of the presence or absence of an account of subjectivity in contemporary representation. Via analysis of selected films and literary works of Reinaldo Arenas, Mayra Santos-Febres, Pedro Lemebel, among others, the author reflects on the political implications of recent visions (1985-2005).
This study analyses the results of a research project on gay-identified men of Latin American ori... more This study analyses the results of a research project on gay-identified men of Latin American origin who have migrated to Sydney, Australia. The findings are the product of a year of collection and analysis of data from surveys and in-depth interviews carried out with those who answered the initial call for participation at the beginning of 2010, published in the gay and lesbian press in as well as Spanish-speaking periodicals in Sydney. The theoretical bases of the project find their inspiration in the newly emergent framework of so-called sexual migration studies and the work of sexual fields theory. The conclusions show the importance of ethnic and racial images in Latin American migrant interaction in gay spaces and the value that the study’s participants gave to multiculturalism in their experiences of new socio-sexual sites and identity constructions post-migration.
Abstract:
This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thrill... more Abstract:
This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo (México DF: Alfaguara, 2006), as well as its use of Indigenous cosmovisiones, that is, world views, ways of seeing and thinking, modes of structuring relations, order, cultural systems and technologies, where “science” blends with “myth” and story. This novel hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the travelling genre of noir fiction with myths about “Indianness”, in order to tell a story about the violence enacted by the Shining Path and the state that engulfed Peru for twenty years (1980-2000). Configurations of Indigenous subjectivity in the novel rely on a tradition of imagining otherness well-known in Latin American letters; at the same time, the very structure of the narrative is oriented around multidimensional time and the whispering of an errant voice that functions as a presence-in-absence in the face of all too familiar tropes of race and gender, typical of the genre. To what extent does this tactic re-colonize the terrain of subjectivity and speaking in order to recast history and the legacies of the past from a white, mestizo perspective? To what extent does its use of, or break with, narrative point-of-view and genre conventions mark a challenge to the primacy of the mestizo myth of “Indianness” and history?
In “Thinking Figurations Otherwise,” the first chapter of Australian critical scholar, ethnograph... more In “Thinking Figurations Otherwise,” the first chapter of Australian critical scholar, ethnographer and social researcher on Latin America Vek Lewis’s 2010 book Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America, Lewis asks how the critical literature on the representation of travestismo in works of culture relates to the actual lives of trans people. Lewis situates his work in opposition to previous work on travestismo, which theorizes it as a metaphor for destabilizing the national order; he seeks instead to show how the understanding of gender-variance as destabilizing or excluded from the nation came about in the first place. Thus, Lewis embarks on a genealogy of dominant understandings of locas, travestis and transsexuals. In both popular imaginaries and critical understandings of Latin American travestismo, Lewis claims, the figure of the travesti is treated as merely symbolic of a more general crisis in identity-construction. Trans people become convenient tools for thinking mestizaje—a term connoting the mixed or hybrid character of Latin American identities—because transness is primarily understood as a hybrid mixture of two sexes, genders, or dispositions. While Lewis critiques Latin American theorists specifically for this error, he also shows how the Anglophone North American theorists of performativity upon whom these writers draw—Marjorie Garber and Judith Butler—make a similar mistake. In advancing this critique, Lewis is attempting to think about gender variance in Latin America in different terms. While gender variant identities and practices in Latin America are indeed shaped by the sociological dimensions of nation, race, and class, seeing gender variance merely as an allegory for personal and political transformations neglects the institutional and material situation of living travestis, locas and transsexuals.
Abstract
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal ... more Abstract
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal migrations undertaken when trans women are forced because of police and civilian violence and persecution to flee from one municipality or state to the next has not been substantially explored. Several key works examine the motives and impacts of migrations of trans women who leave Mexico and other countries crossing national borders in search of a better life (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). However, the lack of work on the question of internal migrations, their determinants and consequences, is notable. In this article, an overview of contemporary studies that throw light on aspects related to the mobility of trans women is offered as the first step in a conceptualization of what elements would need to be taken into account for more in depth research into a phenomenon that is little known in academia.
Key words:
Internal migration * displacement * transgender * violence * sex work
Resumen
Al investigar las vivencias de las trans en México, el tema de las migraciones internas que ocurren cuando las mujeres trans se ven forzadas por razones de persecución y violencia civil o policiaca a huir de un municipio o estado a otro es un tema poco explorado. Algunos trabajos clave examinan los motivos y el impacto de migraciones de mujeres trans que abandonan el país en busca de una mejor vida al cruzar fronteras nacionales (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). Sin embargo, se nota una carencia de trabajos dedicados al tema de las migraciones internas, sus determinantes y consecuencias. En este artículo se hace un recorrido de estudios contemporáneos que echan luz sobre aspectos relacionados con la movilidad de las trans como paso previo a una conceptualización de qué elementos se necesitarían tomar en cuenta al elaborar una investigación más profunda de un fenómeno poco conocido en la academia.
Palabras clave:
Migración interna * desplazamiento * transgénero * violencia * trabajo sexual
... | Ayuda. Grotesque spectacles: the janus face of the state and gender variant bodies in Reina... more ... | Ayuda. Grotesque spectacles: the janus face of the state and gender variant bodies in Reinaldo Arenas. Autores: Vek Lewis; Localización: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana, ISSN 0145-8973, Vol. 38, Nº. 1, 2009 , pags. 104-124. ...
Abstract In this paper I examine the images of" indios" and" cholos" found in... more Abstract In this paper I examine the images of" indios" and" cholos" found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo, as well as its use of indigenous" cosmovisiones". This novel, published by Alfaguara in 2006, hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the ...
Signifying “others” or signs of life? This book critically examines the ways in which crossing se... more Signifying “others” or signs of life? This book critically examines the ways in which crossing sex and gender is imagined in key cultural texts from contemporary Latin America. Unlike previous studies, Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America does not hold that sexually diverse figures are always and only performative or allegorical and instead places the accent on questions of the presence or absence of an account of subjectivity in contemporary representation. Via analysis of selected films and literary works of Reinaldo Arenas, Mayra Santos-Febres, Pedro Lemebel, among others, the author reflects on the political implications of recent visions (1985-2005).
This study analyses the results of a research project on gay-identified men of Latin American ori... more This study analyses the results of a research project on gay-identified men of Latin American origin who have migrated to Sydney, Australia. The findings are the product of a year of collection and analysis of data from surveys and in-depth interviews carried out with those who answered the initial call for participation at the beginning of 2010, published in the gay and lesbian press in as well as Spanish-speaking periodicals in Sydney. The theoretical bases of the project find their inspiration in the newly emergent framework of so-called sexual migration studies and the work of sexual fields theory. The conclusions show the importance of ethnic and racial images in Latin American migrant interaction in gay spaces and the value that the study’s participants gave to multiculturalism in their experiences of new socio-sexual sites and identity constructions post-migration.
Abstract:
This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thrill... more Abstract:
This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo (México DF: Alfaguara, 2006), as well as its use of Indigenous cosmovisiones, that is, world views, ways of seeing and thinking, modes of structuring relations, order, cultural systems and technologies, where “science” blends with “myth” and story. This novel hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the travelling genre of noir fiction with myths about “Indianness”, in order to tell a story about the violence enacted by the Shining Path and the state that engulfed Peru for twenty years (1980-2000). Configurations of Indigenous subjectivity in the novel rely on a tradition of imagining otherness well-known in Latin American letters; at the same time, the very structure of the narrative is oriented around multidimensional time and the whispering of an errant voice that functions as a presence-in-absence in the face of all too familiar tropes of race and gender, typical of the genre. To what extent does this tactic re-colonize the terrain of subjectivity and speaking in order to recast history and the legacies of the past from a white, mestizo perspective? To what extent does its use of, or break with, narrative point-of-view and genre conventions mark a challenge to the primacy of the mestizo myth of “Indianness” and history?
In “Thinking Figurations Otherwise,” the first chapter of Australian critical scholar, ethnograph... more In “Thinking Figurations Otherwise,” the first chapter of Australian critical scholar, ethnographer and social researcher on Latin America Vek Lewis’s 2010 book Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America, Lewis asks how the critical literature on the representation of travestismo in works of culture relates to the actual lives of trans people. Lewis situates his work in opposition to previous work on travestismo, which theorizes it as a metaphor for destabilizing the national order; he seeks instead to show how the understanding of gender-variance as destabilizing or excluded from the nation came about in the first place. Thus, Lewis embarks on a genealogy of dominant understandings of locas, travestis and transsexuals. In both popular imaginaries and critical understandings of Latin American travestismo, Lewis claims, the figure of the travesti is treated as merely symbolic of a more general crisis in identity-construction. Trans people become convenient tools for thinking mestizaje—a term connoting the mixed or hybrid character of Latin American identities—because transness is primarily understood as a hybrid mixture of two sexes, genders, or dispositions. While Lewis critiques Latin American theorists specifically for this error, he also shows how the Anglophone North American theorists of performativity upon whom these writers draw—Marjorie Garber and Judith Butler—make a similar mistake. In advancing this critique, Lewis is attempting to think about gender variance in Latin America in different terms. While gender variant identities and practices in Latin America are indeed shaped by the sociological dimensions of nation, race, and class, seeing gender variance merely as an allegory for personal and political transformations neglects the institutional and material situation of living travestis, locas and transsexuals.
Abstract
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal ... more Abstract
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal migrations undertaken when trans women are forced because of police and civilian violence and persecution to flee from one municipality or state to the next has not been substantially explored. Several key works examine the motives and impacts of migrations of trans women who leave Mexico and other countries crossing national borders in search of a better life (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). However, the lack of work on the question of internal migrations, their determinants and consequences, is notable. In this article, an overview of contemporary studies that throw light on aspects related to the mobility of trans women is offered as the first step in a conceptualization of what elements would need to be taken into account for more in depth research into a phenomenon that is little known in academia.
Key words:
Internal migration * displacement * transgender * violence * sex work
Resumen
Al investigar las vivencias de las trans en México, el tema de las migraciones internas que ocurren cuando las mujeres trans se ven forzadas por razones de persecución y violencia civil o policiaca a huir de un municipio o estado a otro es un tema poco explorado. Algunos trabajos clave examinan los motivos y el impacto de migraciones de mujeres trans que abandonan el país en busca de una mejor vida al cruzar fronteras nacionales (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). Sin embargo, se nota una carencia de trabajos dedicados al tema de las migraciones internas, sus determinantes y consecuencias. En este artículo se hace un recorrido de estudios contemporáneos que echan luz sobre aspectos relacionados con la movilidad de las trans como paso previo a una conceptualización de qué elementos se necesitarían tomar en cuenta al elaborar una investigación más profunda de un fenómeno poco conocido en la academia.
Palabras clave:
Migración interna * desplazamiento * transgénero * violencia * trabajo sexual
... | Ayuda. Grotesque spectacles: the janus face of the state and gender variant bodies in Reina... more ... | Ayuda. Grotesque spectacles: the janus face of the state and gender variant bodies in Reinaldo Arenas. Autores: Vek Lewis; Localización: Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana, ISSN 0145-8973, Vol. 38, Nº. 1, 2009 , pags. 104-124. ...
Abstract In this paper I examine the images of" indios" and" cholos" found in... more Abstract In this paper I examine the images of" indios" and" cholos" found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo, as well as its use of indigenous" cosmovisiones". This novel, published by Alfaguara in 2006, hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the ...
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This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo (México DF: Alfaguara, 2006), as well as its use of Indigenous cosmovisiones, that is, world views, ways of seeing and thinking, modes of structuring relations, order, cultural systems and technologies, where “science” blends with “myth” and story. This novel hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the travelling genre of noir fiction with myths about “Indianness”, in order to tell a story about the violence enacted by the Shining Path and the state that engulfed Peru for twenty years (1980-2000). Configurations of Indigenous subjectivity in the novel rely on a tradition of imagining otherness well-known in Latin American letters; at the same time, the very structure of the narrative is oriented around multidimensional time and the whispering of an errant voice that functions as a presence-in-absence in the face of all too familiar tropes of race and gender, typical of the genre. To what extent does this tactic re-colonize the terrain of subjectivity and speaking in order to recast history and the legacies of the past from a white, mestizo perspective? To what extent does its use of, or break with, narrative point-of-view and genre conventions mark a challenge to the primacy of the mestizo myth of “Indianness” and history?
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal migrations undertaken when trans women are forced because of police and civilian violence and persecution to flee from one municipality or state to the next has not been substantially explored. Several key works examine the motives and impacts of migrations of trans women who leave Mexico and other countries crossing national borders in search of a better life (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). However, the lack of work on the question of internal migrations, their determinants and consequences, is notable. In this article, an overview of contemporary studies that throw light on aspects related to the mobility of trans women is offered as the first step in a conceptualization of what elements would need to be taken into account for more in depth research into a phenomenon that is little known in academia.
Key words:
Internal migration * displacement * transgender * violence * sex work
Resumen
Al investigar las vivencias de las trans en México, el tema de las migraciones internas que ocurren cuando las mujeres trans se ven forzadas por razones de persecución y violencia civil o policiaca a huir de un municipio o estado a otro es un tema poco explorado. Algunos trabajos clave examinan los motivos y el impacto de migraciones de mujeres trans que abandonan el país en busca de una mejor vida al cruzar fronteras nacionales (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). Sin embargo, se nota una carencia de trabajos dedicados al tema de las migraciones internas, sus determinantes y consecuencias. En este artículo se hace un recorrido de estudios contemporáneos que echan luz sobre aspectos relacionados con la movilidad de las trans como paso previo a una conceptualización de qué elementos se necesitarían tomar en cuenta al elaborar una investigación más profunda de un fenómeno poco conocido en la academia.
Palabras clave:
Migración interna * desplazamiento * transgénero * violencia * trabajo sexual
This chapter examines the images of indios and cholos found in the Peruvian thriller, Abril rojo (México DF: Alfaguara, 2006), as well as its use of Indigenous cosmovisiones, that is, world views, ways of seeing and thinking, modes of structuring relations, order, cultural systems and technologies, where “science” blends with “myth” and story. This novel hinges on the visual, parsing representational codes familiar from the travelling genre of noir fiction with myths about “Indianness”, in order to tell a story about the violence enacted by the Shining Path and the state that engulfed Peru for twenty years (1980-2000). Configurations of Indigenous subjectivity in the novel rely on a tradition of imagining otherness well-known in Latin American letters; at the same time, the very structure of the narrative is oriented around multidimensional time and the whispering of an errant voice that functions as a presence-in-absence in the face of all too familiar tropes of race and gender, typical of the genre. To what extent does this tactic re-colonize the terrain of subjectivity and speaking in order to recast history and the legacies of the past from a white, mestizo perspective? To what extent does its use of, or break with, narrative point-of-view and genre conventions mark a challenge to the primacy of the mestizo myth of “Indianness” and history?
In research on the life experiences of trans people in Mexico, the topic of internal migrations undertaken when trans women are forced because of police and civilian violence and persecution to flee from one municipality or state to the next has not been substantially explored. Several key works examine the motives and impacts of migrations of trans women who leave Mexico and other countries crossing national borders in search of a better life (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). However, the lack of work on the question of internal migrations, their determinants and consequences, is notable. In this article, an overview of contemporary studies that throw light on aspects related to the mobility of trans women is offered as the first step in a conceptualization of what elements would need to be taken into account for more in depth research into a phenomenon that is little known in academia.
Key words:
Internal migration * displacement * transgender * violence * sex work
Resumen
Al investigar las vivencias de las trans en México, el tema de las migraciones internas que ocurren cuando las mujeres trans se ven forzadas por razones de persecución y violencia civil o policiaca a huir de un municipio o estado a otro es un tema poco explorado. Algunos trabajos clave examinan los motivos y el impacto de migraciones de mujeres trans que abandonan el país en busca de una mejor vida al cruzar fronteras nacionales (Howe, Zaraysky y Lorentzen (2008); Hernández-Rosete Martínez (2008)). Sin embargo, se nota una carencia de trabajos dedicados al tema de las migraciones internas, sus determinantes y consecuencias. En este artículo se hace un recorrido de estudios contemporáneos que echan luz sobre aspectos relacionados con la movilidad de las trans como paso previo a una conceptualización de qué elementos se necesitarían tomar en cuenta al elaborar una investigación más profunda de un fenómeno poco conocido en la academia.
Palabras clave:
Migración interna * desplazamiento * transgénero * violencia * trabajo sexual