REVIEW: Silva, JM, Ornat, M & Baptista Chimin Junior, A (2013) Geografias Malditas: Corpos, Sexualidades e Espaços. (2015) Online Society and Space.
Descrição do Produto
http://societyandspace.com/reviews/reviews-‐archive/silva-‐ornat-‐junior-‐2013-‐geografias-‐malditas-‐ corpos-‐sexualidades-‐e-‐espacos-‐damnedcursed-‐geographies-‐bodies-‐sexualities-‐and-‐spaces-‐reviewed-‐ by-‐maria-‐rodo-‐de-‐zarate/ REVIEW by Maria Rodó de Zárate Societyandspace.com
Geografias Malditas: Corpos, Sexualidades e Espaços [Damned Geographies: Bodies, Sexualities and Spaces], (2013) edited by Joseli Maria Silva, Marcio Jose Ornat & Alides Baptista Chimin Junior. Todapalavra.
Geografias Malditas: Corpos, Sexualidades e Espaços is a book edited by researchers from GETE (Group of Territorial Studies, State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil). Its title could be translated as ‘Damned Geographies: Bodies, Sexualities and Spaces’ and it focuses on the lives and struggles of trans people (travesties, as they self-‐identify in Brazil) from a spatial perspective. The book is organized in three parts. The first one, ‘Travestis’ geographies, in their own voice’ contains four chapters; each one is a transcript of oral statements made by Débora Lee, Leandra Nikaratty, Fernanda Riquelme and Gláucia Boulevard, four travestis. Their texts have some aspects in common. They explore a) the feelings of difference at the scale of the body and the relation with others, b) their everyday struggles in prostitution, c) their fighting for rights in the city and d) their dreams and bonds of solidarity. The second part, ‘Trajectories of knowledge produced collaboratively by the GETE and the travestis’, is written by researchers of the group and presents some key issues regarding feminist and queer approaches to geography in Brazil. The topics include: the body as a geographical inquiry in Brazilian geographies, the dynamics of interdicted or denied space (espaço interdito) for travestis, the paradoxical territories of travesti prostitution, intersectionality and transnational mobilities in travesti’s networks and travesti’s social representations of space and death. Finally, the third part, ‘Diverse spaces, multiple trans realities’, is composed by three chapters that explore trans realities in different contexts. Jan Simon Hutta and Carsten Balzen delve into Brazilian trans identities and struggles against violence from a historical point of view. Lynda Johnston and Robyn Longhurst explore the transitions of two trans women from New Zealand in relation to bodies, binaries, places and spaces. Martin Ignacio Torres Rodríguez and Raul Borges Guimaraes focus on subversive practices of transsexuals in Santiago de Chile. As the authors state in the presentation, this books breaks many disciplinary boundaries in geography. They illustrate the situation of gender and sexuality geographies in Brazil and show how it is not a welcoming one for a book of this kind. In Brazil, gender and sexuality geographies are struggling to be considered part of the scientific scenario, and travesti geographies are taken as non-‐ scientific and non-‐geographical issues. As they state: “the feeling of disregard, aversion and rejection in relation to our scientific discourse on travestis made us realize how it was perceived as the ‘damned’, in a foucauldian sense, unable to acquire scientific value in the sacrosanct and inviolable purity of the geographical science” (p. 12). Here is where the title of the book comes from, from this willingness to bring the ‘damned’ to the scientific domain, to disrupt its purity. And by doing so, they started to suffer the same type of prejudices that were directed to travesties: ridiculizations and underestimations from other colleagues, undervaluing of their researches and constant jokes. However, as they say and it is worth highlighting, “the more resistances in relation to travestis we faced, the more our curiosity grew and the more we strengthen the affective bonds and complicities with them”.
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They focus on how this book and their broader work fits in the geographical context in Brazil, but I would also like to point at the broader context: the international geographical context and how this book fits in it. Nowadays, the Anglo-‐American hegemony in geography establishes the patterns for the intellectual debate, not only for the hegemony of the English language but also for what it represents when listening to ‘other’ voices (see Garcia Ramon, 2012). Language is a cultural issue, and its use is a political question. In a non-‐Anglophone context, such as Brazil, the knowledge of English is a privilege conditioned by the class position. The dissemination and the engagement with the international academic debates and networks are therefore conditioned by power relations. Moreover, as Joseli Maria Silva (2011) argues, the knowledge production in some non-‐Anglophone regions or literature is seen as ‘local’, as an empirical contribution not capable of producing theory. The consequences this has for the research and for the everyday life of investigation are wide, but they are rarely taken into account, neither in feminist geography nor in academic circuits of publications. This is the context where this book has been produced: between the colonial and patriarchal/transphobic tensions of the international context and the academy in Brazilian geographies. The book develops two interesting conceptualizations, the espaço interdito and intersectionality, which are important contributions to understand not only travesti’s experiences but that also relate to the position of the book in itself. One of the theoretical contributions of this book is the conceptualization of the dynamics of the espaço interdito. As Perola, one of the travestis, says: “There is no place for a travesti. We are a group that does not exist; there is no space for a travesti”. Such quotes are the ground for developing this concept, which speaks both for the exclusionary discourses and the spaces appropriated through the daily struggle. Taking this concept, I wonder whether there is any space for a book of this kind in the Brazilian geographical context and, moreover, if there are the conditions in feminist geography, at an international level, for receiving such work and appreciating it as a theoretical contribution. Is there any space for Brazilian geographers that work on and with travestis? Looking at this from an intersectional perspective, as some chapters interestingly address in the book regarding the experiences of gender, sexuality, race and class in relation to travestis, it seems that Geografias Malditas also ‘suffers discrimination’ from multiple directions. Joseli Maria Silva analyzes travesti’s strategies and struggles, rendering visible the complexity of their spatial negotiations and the paradoxical space that is created because of their intersecting identities. It seems that the book, and therefore its authors, are also struggling because of their intersectional identities. The lived experience of their intersectional dynamics appears as a paradoxical space (see Rose, 1993) that sheds light on the difficulties of the production of knowledge for feminist non-‐ Anglophone geographies. In Brazil, where they experience comfort regarding their Brazilian identity and where they have the language and cultural skills that allow them not to be undervalued by that, they experience transphobia in the academy. On the other side, in feminist geographical environments, where feminist and trans issues are not a source of discrimination, language and their Brazilian origins become a source of discomfort. Brazilian sex workers travestis in the process of migration to Spain suffer from their oppressed positions in multiple power structures. However, they use their identities and their ‘intersectional dynamics’ in a strategic way that Silva interestingly develops in the second part. Travestis’ identities play very different roles depending on the contexts. As she analyses, it is not the same to be a
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Brazilian sex worker in Ponta Grossa than in Madrid. The exotism and sexualisation of Brazilian bodies, even if it departs from a colonial conception, is used by them as a labour resource that improves their class situation in Spain. Far from victimizing the authors because of the difficulties they find when researching and producing knowledge, they take this situation in a way that provides interesting and new insights on gender and queer practices and theorizations. As it can be seen in the book, they use and engage with what has been said in the Anglophone literature regarding gender and sexuality and at the same time they are able to understand and work with travestis that are identified in relation to different concepts and that experience their identity in different ways than the ones that are mainly reported in the academy. They relate both contexts and concepts and highlight the tensions between them. As Sandra Harding puts it, “standpoint theories map how a social and political disadvantage can be turned into an epistemic, scientific and political advantage” (Harding, 2004: 7-‐8). Following her claim, the academic and political practices that are expressed in this book and its context of production can contribute to feminist theory not only as specific examples of different case studies but as different feminist and queer conceptualizations that may contest the hegemonic ones. Could this situation imply some sort of epistemic advantage? Could this margin be seen as a privileged standpoint to counter the Anglophone hegemony? Is it seen like this in the academy? And moreover, what does it imply for our conception of knowledge production that a travesti sex worker writes on geographical issues? Are their narratives just ‘empirical material’ or are they also theoretical contributions? Travestis’ narratives clearly show how their lives are deeply crossed by violence and death. The levels of violence and abuse they experience are sometimes expressed with some humour, which in fact makes it easier to, at least, continue reading. However, despite the intensity of their stories, this book tries to reflect how their situation is not only about being victims but about producing spaces, knowledge, strategies, alliances and also funny situations. Maybe one of the most important aspects of the book is precisely the relation established by the researchers and the ‘researched’, how travestis’ voices are considered, how they are taken into account and what results from that. It stands in a very difficult position between rendering visible the material conditions they are living in, the violence that crosses their lives and the theory that can be produced thanks to their narratives. And the result, from my point of view, is a politically very significant work that raises relevant issues from a geographical perspective and that specifically contributes both theoretically and empirically to feminist and queer geographies. References: Garcia-‐Ramon, MD (2012) ‘Las diferencias que crea el lugar. Una mirada crítica a la hegemonía angloamericana en geografía’. Documents d’Anàlisi Geogràfica, vol. 58/2 307-‐319 Harding, Sandra (2004) ed., The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader. New York and London: Routledge Rose, G. 1993. Feminism & geography. Cambridge, U.K.: Polity Press. Silva, J (2011) ‘Os desafios para expansao da geografia das sexualidades no Brasil e os limites do diálogo científico internacional’ En: Joseli Silva/Augusto C. Pinheiro da Silva (eds.): Espaço, gênero e poder: conectando fronteiras. Ponta Grossa: Todapalavra Editora, pp. 187–199.
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