ABSTRACT
“Queerness” (as a term) is in crisis in Latin America. This chapter argues that “queerness,” and the associated English-language vocabulary of sexual and gender difference, has impacted the Global South lexis in ways that have furthered liberation and emancipations. “Queerness” is inextricably embedded into social movements in the Global South in general and Latin America in particular. However, I propose that “queerness” has limitations, and its universal imposition across geographies too often results in the division of oppressed peoples, in the exclusive use of English terms as if only they could create coalitions and interactions worldwide, and in the normalization of a monolithic way of being “queer” that centers consumerism and social conservatism as the cornerstones of a fulfilling life and sexuality.
The first two sections of this chapter provide an overview of the state of theoretical approaches to sexual and gender dissidence and non-conformity in Latin America. These sections parse how gendersex dissidence in Latin America is being theorized foremost as a political subjectivity, enacted by non-white bodies, breaking rules inherited from homophobic colonial pasts. The last section briefly analyzes some key works of Latin-American literature in search of local vocabularies that can enable regional and decolonial ways to name our experiences and communities—without resorting to uneven epistemological hierarchies of knowledge.
