The experiences of transvestites and trans women in Latin America are deeply marked by social segregation, especially in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Inspired by Raewyn Connell (2015), we understand transsexuality not as a fixed condition, but as life trajectories crossed by challenges and resistance. To do this, we rely on narratives by Latin American trans and transvestite authors, such as A princesa de Albuquerque (1994), Las malas, by Villada (2021) and Lemebel (2009), which offer political testimonies about the violence and inequalities intensified by HIV/AIDS.

Our focus is on the relationship between space and subjectivity in these narratives. The street, often the only space for socialising and building affections for these populations, contrasts with the domestic environment, often denied to them by the cisheteronormative patriarchy. Thus, the narratives analysed reflect how the street becomes a space of existence and resistance. In this way, urban spaces are not just settings for these stories, but active elements in the construction of transvestite subjectivity and culture.

Bio note

Maria de Medeiros is a PhD candidate and Master in Humanities from the Postgraduate Programme in Humanities of the Federal University of Paraíba (PPGL-UFPB), within the research line Decolonial and Feminist Studies. Medeiros holds a degree in Portuguese Language from the same institution. Her research focuses on the collective memory of Latin-American trans women and transvestites in contexts of exclusion and violence, besides topics such as transfeminisms, decolonial feminisms, oral poetics and Epistemologies of the South.

Organisers: TRACE - Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe and REMEMBER: Vivências de Pessoas LGBTQ Idosas no Portugal Democrático (1974-2020)

Event under February commemorations of the LGBTQI+ History Month