Cultural Activism around Gender and Sexualities in Colombia and Mexico: De un Mundo Raro (Global Queer Politics)

This book focuses on an underestimated alternative to the mainstream liberal rights-based approach: cultural activism. This political strategy deploys art and other creative techniques to support the quest for social justice. This work explores this approach's dynamics, strategies, and potential, presenting a qualitative case study of three cultural activists in Colombia and Mexico -Lia García, Felipe Osornio, and Manuel Parra-, including in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation of their artistic/activist work. Through their intervention in the realm of ordinary affects, these cultural producers create new affective climates for the experience of sexual and gender difference and develop new repertoires of affective response concerning identities usually seen as abject or worthy of social punishment. Strategies of cultural activism aim to subvert dominant representations and performances of marginalized subjectivities, to critique and subvert gender norms, to give visibility to non-hegemonic identities, to resist different forms of oppression and marginalization, and to prompt collective healing of wounds left by violence and discrimination. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures 1 Introduction 1 Research Problem 2 Literature Review 3 Research Questions 4 Methodology Lia García—La Novia Sirena [The Mermaid Bride] Felipe Osornio—Lechedevirgen Trimegisto [Milk-of-Virgin Trismegistus] Manuel Parra—Manu Mojito References 2 Lía 1 Lo personal siempre fue politico 2 Affective Pedagogy to Resist Pedagogies of Cruelty 3 Encuentros Afectivos as Events to Sentipensar Gender in Liminal Spaces 4 The Politics of Tenderness: A Pedagogical Resistance to Hatred References 3 Felipe 1 El único artista de performance con tres riñones [The Only Performance Artist with Three Kidneys] 2 Shifting Emotions: Nuances from Inferno to Esperanza An Inflammatory Provocation A Bonding Tissue 3 An Avowal of Vulnerability: A Puñal Towards the Médula of Existence A Puñal to Open Wounds 4 Oneiric Awareness: Artistic Resistance and the Metaphor of Life References 4 Manuel 1 La diva del arte [Art Diva] 2 Specular Fantasies: On Representations of Marginalised Subjectivities The House of Crawford 3 Resilient Visibility: On Supporting Trans Activist Initiatives Getting By 4 Fellow Divas: An Alliance for Trans Visibility References 5 Conclusions 1 Lía García—La Novia Sirena: A Collective Embrace 2 Felipe Osornio/Lechedevirgen Trimegisto: Awareness of Life 3 Manuel Parra/Manu Mojito: Portraying Resilience 4 Summoned by Difference: A Comparative Approach 5 Activismos raros: On the Role and Extent of Cultural Activism References Annexes Annex 1: Pensamiento Puñal Annex 2: Marrow, or Against the Surface of the World Bibliography