Cultures of Resistance in the Spanish-Speaking World

Queer Identity and Discourse

  • Queer emerged from popular language as a derogatory insult, initially used against effeminate men.
  • In the 20th century, as "gay" identity became more visible, queer discourse arose in reaction against the integration and reduction of gay identity to heteronormative capitalist society.
  • Queer discourse affirms multiplicity and difference, emphasizing the political dimensions of gender ideas rather than conforming to a normative model.
  • The term "queer" encompasses all non-heteronormative sexual and/or gender forms.
  • Unlike gay identity, queer identity isn't rooted in a positive truth or stable reality but gains meaning from its opposition to the norm.
  • Queer describes a horizon of possibility that resists being definitively delimited in advance.
  • This positionality allows for envisioning possibilities to reorder relations among sexual behaviors, erotic identities, gender constructions, forms of knowledge, regimes of enunciation, logics of representation, modes of self-constitution, and practices of community.
  • It aims to restructure the relations among power, truth and desire.

Queer Theory (Beatriz Preciado/Paul B. Preciado)

Intersectional Considerations in Latin America

  • Thinking about lesbian/gay/queer/homosexual/LGBT/bisexual identity from a Latin American perspective involves considering what it implies.
  • Following the concept of intersectionality:
    • Being gay or lesbian in Latin America (e.g., Ciudad Juárez) is different from being so in New York or Berlin.
    • The same discourses of gay/lesbian/bi/trans or queer theory might not be applicable.
  • The guiding question is: How to name lesbian/gay/bi/trans/a/sexual transgressions (LGBT) in Latin America if imported models do not fully respond to the realities of the subjects they attempt to define?
  • Pedro Lemebel's work explores possible answers to this question.

Intersectionality in Latin American Context

  • Many Latin American and Latinx artists, intellectuals, and academics articulate their subjectivity concerning their sexual dissidence and multiple systems of oppression (class, race, ideology, etc.).
  • These systems intervene in the socio-political reality of their countries.
  • Latin American LGBT intellectuals emphasize an inverse relationship: the political permeates, determines, and limits everything.

Pedro Lemebel: An Outsider

  • Pedro Mardones Lemebel (1952-2015) rejected his father's last name.
  • He was born in the Zanjón de la Aguada, one of Chile’s most marginalized areas.
  • His sense of class identity marked him permanently.
  • He worked as a professor until being fired for openly identifying as homosexual.
  • From 1987-1997, he began his artistic career as one half of the performance group "Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis."
  • Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis sought to reclaim the homosexual experience in Chile's democratic transition through public interventions in cultural and political events.

Manifiesto: Hablo por mi diferencia

  • This manifesto was read during a clandestine political act of the Chilean left in September 1986.
  • It critiques both the Chile of 1986 under Pinochet's military dictatorship and the homophobia of the Latin American left.
  • Lemebel spoke of "compañeros" and "Siberian trains."
  • The audience was disconcerted by the intervention of the travesti with heels and the hammer and sickle drawn on their face.
  • Key quotes:
    • "No soy Pasolini pidiendo explicaciones. No soy Ginsberg expulsado de Cuba. No soy un marica disfrazado de poeta."
    • ("I’m not Pasolini asking for explanations. I’m not Ginsberg expelled from Cuba. I’m not a gay disguised as poet.")
    • "Aquí está mi cara. Hablo por mi diferencia."
    • ("Here is my face. I speak for my difference.")
    • "Me apesta la injusticia y sospecho de esta cueca democrática. Pero no me hable del proletariado. Porque ser pobre y maricón es peor."
    • ("Injustice stinks And I suspect this democratic dance But don’t speak to me of the proletariat Because to be poor and queer is worse")
    • "Como la dictadura, peor que la dictadura. Porque la dictadura pasa y viene la democracia y detrasito el socialismo ¿y entonces? ¿qué harán con nosotros compañero?"
    • ("Like the dictatorship Worse than the dictatorship Because the dictatorship ends And democracy comes And right behind it socialism And then what? What will you do to us, compañero?")
    • "El fútbol es otra homosexualidad tapada. Como el box, la política y el vino."
    • ("Football is another hidden homosexuality Like boxing, politics and wine")
    • "Yo no pongo la otra mejilla. Pongo el culo compañero."
    • ("I don’t turn the other cheek Instead I present my ass, compañero")

Commentary on the Manifesto

  • The manifesto critiques the hypocrisy and discomfort surrounding homosexuality within political movements.
  • It questions the acceptance and genuine integration of queer individuals in broader social and political contexts.
  • The text challenges the audience to reflect on their prejudices and consider the complexities of identity beyond simple labels.

Crónicas and Marginalized Voices

  • Lemebel’s chronicles give voice and visibility to the marginalized areas of Santiago and the people and memories that inhabit them.
  • His chronicles speak of forbidden loves and homosexual meeting places in Santiago, drug addiction, drag queens, the “locas,” figures from the world of prostitution, the disappeared of the dictatorship, utopian dreams of pre-dictatorial Chile, and the dignity of poverty and the urban periphery.
  • Lemebel mixes poetry, testimony, and narrative to create a sometimes erotic and sometimes nostalgic vision of the city (Santiago) that focuses on the experiences and geographies of the marginalized.

Crónicas de Nueva York: El bar de Stonewall

  • Lemebel describes his visit to the Stonewall bar in New York City.
  • He feels out of place, and reflects on the commodification and aestheticization of gay culture.
  • Uses humor to highlight the disconnect between the mythologized version of Stonewall and his own experience as a "desnutrición de loca tercermundista."
    • (malnourished third-world loca)

Questions for Reflection

  • Why does Lemebel feel out of place in this mythical bar?
  • How and why does he use humor?
  • How can you analyze his identity position with respect to Stonewall and what it represents, considering the notion of intersectionality?
  • What would be the dominant narrative or culture for Lemebel according to this chronicle?

Lemebel's Counter-Hegemonic Position

  • The word "gay" does not adapt to what a poor "coliza" (derogatory term for gay men) is in Chile.
  • If a homosexual has AIDS, is poor, is indigenous, they are killed.
  • Any minority that fights for their rights will be categorized as violent.
  • Lemebel represents a counter-hegemonic position.
  • His position as Queer extends beyond simply being Gay.