Lesbian, gay and queer scholarship in Latin America
Lopez-Vicuña, Ignacio. “Approaches to Sexuality in Latin America: Recent Scholarship on Gay and Lesbian Studies”. Latin American Research Review - Volume 39, Number 1, 2004, pp. 238-253 . University of Texas Press.
This article reviews scholarship on gay and lesbian studies in Latin America. The growing body of research has been more marked by diversity and complexity than by confluence. Literary studies have started to "queer" the canon by reading texts through queer desire. Queer studies from the social sciences, have tended more to build bridges between homoerotic desire and narratives of nationhood, between discourses of national identity and sexuality. They pay attention to the interplay of power, desire and race, including the analysis of the construction of whiteness and masculinity in Vargas Llosa's work. The fact that many of the writers of the Latin American literary "boom" (1960's and 70's) rejected dominant masculinity and machismo does not mean that they still would not use homophobia and misogyny to re-assert themselves (243). In this way, studies of masculinity have moved away from a model of acceptance versus rejection of hegemonic gender identities to more nuanced readings of how different models of masculinity circulate. Lopez-Vicuña laments that some studies miss out on how both homophobia and homoeroticism are so constitutive of modern masculine identities. Other studies have missed to understand that masculinity is constructed and performed rather than "expressed" or interpreted. Cynthia Weber has made a provocative analysis of the ways that gender and sexuality constitute international politics: she reads US foreign policy towards the Caribbean in terms of phallic loses, restauration of masculinity, castration/penetration, and finally queering and travestism.
Other line of studies have documented the history of the gay and lesbian's movements in Latin America. The most comprehensive one, by Norma Mogrovejo, documents how throughout Central and Latin America, gay and lesbian movements emerged or re-emerged in the 1980's in the context of the opposition to dictatorships. They were at the same time influenced by international gay discourse and feminism, but looked to appropriate these discourses of gay rights and gay politics of identity in particular ways so that they would not be complicit with US discourses of imperialism. Mogrovejo's research also documents that the majority of the feminist movements were highly heterocentrist and for the most part excluded lesbian interests so that lesbian women often were active in both feminists and homosexual movements. Finally, studies based on ethnographies and life stories have emerged. Notably, Hector Carillo study on AIDS and meanings around sexuality in Guadalajara illuminates the ways that research on gender and sexuality can be relevant and bring insight to public policies and programs, in this case, health policy.
This article reviews scholarship on gay and lesbian studies in Latin America. The growing body of research has been more marked by diversity and complexity than by confluence. Literary studies have started to "queer" the canon by reading texts through queer desire. Queer studies from the social sciences, have tended more to build bridges between homoerotic desire and narratives of nationhood, between discourses of national identity and sexuality. They pay attention to the interplay of power, desire and race, including the analysis of the construction of whiteness and masculinity in Vargas Llosa's work. The fact that many of the writers of the Latin American literary "boom" (1960's and 70's) rejected dominant masculinity and machismo does not mean that they still would not use homophobia and misogyny to re-assert themselves (243). In this way, studies of masculinity have moved away from a model of acceptance versus rejection of hegemonic gender identities to more nuanced readings of how different models of masculinity circulate. Lopez-Vicuña laments that some studies miss out on how both homophobia and homoeroticism are so constitutive of modern masculine identities. Other studies have missed to understand that masculinity is constructed and performed rather than "expressed" or interpreted. Cynthia Weber has made a provocative analysis of the ways that gender and sexuality constitute international politics: she reads US foreign policy towards the Caribbean in terms of phallic loses, restauration of masculinity, castration/penetration, and finally queering and travestism.
Other line of studies have documented the history of the gay and lesbian's movements in Latin America. The most comprehensive one, by Norma Mogrovejo, documents how throughout Central and Latin America, gay and lesbian movements emerged or re-emerged in the 1980's in the context of the opposition to dictatorships. They were at the same time influenced by international gay discourse and feminism, but looked to appropriate these discourses of gay rights and gay politics of identity in particular ways so that they would not be complicit with US discourses of imperialism. Mogrovejo's research also documents that the majority of the feminist movements were highly heterocentrist and for the most part excluded lesbian interests so that lesbian women often were active in both feminists and homosexual movements. Finally, studies based on ethnographies and life stories have emerged. Notably, Hector Carillo study on AIDS and meanings around sexuality in Guadalajara illuminates the ways that research on gender and sexuality can be relevant and bring insight to public policies and programs, in this case, health policy.
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