Brazilian 'Travesti' Migrations: Gender, Sexualities and Embodiment Experiences (Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences)

This book sheds new light on the interconnections between identity, gender and geographical displacement. At its centre are Brazilian __travesti__ migrants, assigned as male at birth but later seeking to convey the aesthetic attributes of women by repeatedly performing a minutely-studied type of femininity. Despite the fact that they have been migrating between Brazil and Europe for more than forty years, very little is know about them, especially in the English-speaking world. This work therefore fills a significant lacuna in our understandings of sexualities, bodies and trans issues, whilst rejecting hegemonic terms such as 'transsexual' and 'transgender' in favour of the specificity of the __travesti__. What it presents is an ethnographical study of their bodily and geographic-spatial migrations, analysing how they become __travestis__ through the gendered modification of their bodies, their involvement in sex work, and the transnational migrations to Europe that many of them make. Examining their lives in both Brazil and Europe, it also analyses how their migrations influence the construction of their subjectivities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Brazil and Barcelona, this exciting book will appeal to all those interested in gender, sexuality and transgender issues. 'Brazilian 'Travesti' Migrations offers a rich and nuanced analysis of the cultures of travestis in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. Emerging from a feminist ethics and paying particular attention to embodiment and aesthetics, it tells a moving and often heroic story of gender diverse lives, loves and bodies. This is a wonderful addition to sexuality and gender research.' --Sally Hines, Associate Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, University of Leeds, UK. 'Vartabedian's fascinating ethnographic account reveals not only how some performances of femininity are valued more than others, but how these performances are simultaneously a way of enacting exoticized versions of Brazilianness. Importantly, she showcases the limitations of eurocentric sex/gender taxonomies for accommodating travesti ways of being and suggests that transgender studies further work to do if it is to interpret travesti lives without doing epistemological violence to them.' --Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies, University of Arizona, USA, and co-editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly This book analyses the embodied and spatial experiences of Brazilian travesti sex workers who cross both, gender and (trans)national borders. Based on a multi-sited ethnography, it explores travestis' bodily transformations, their involvement in sex work, and the transnational migrations to Europe that many make. This engaging account combines rich ethnographic research with incisive analysis that draws on feminist and trans studies, queer theory (and its critiques), social and queer geography research, sex work and trans migration studies. It will appeal to students and scholars of migration, gender, sexuality and transgender issues. Julieta Vartabedian is a researcher at the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, UK. In her work she combines gender studies, feminist theory, ethnographic and embodiment research. Her articles have been published in Qualitative Research and Sexualities.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introducing Brazilian Travesti Migrations (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 1-20 Disrupting Dichotomous Boundaries of Gender and Sexuality (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 21-43 Brazilian Travestis and the Beginning of Our Encounters (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 45-66 On Bodies, Beauty, and Travesti Femininity (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 67-111 On Clients, Maridos, and Travestis’ Sexualities (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 113-137 Travesti Sex Workers’ Bodily Experiences and the Politics of Life and Death (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 139-161 Trans Migrations: Brazilian Travestis’ Spatial and Embodied Journeys (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 163-224 Travestis’ Paradoxes in the Contemporary World (Julieta Vartabedian)....Pages 225-237 Back Matter ....Pages 239-246