 |
I am an anthropology senior at the University of Kentucky with minors in Women Studies and Latin American Studies. I am member and treasurer of the Lambda Alpha National Anthropological Honor Society and was the Lambda Alpha Dean's List Scholar Candidate having made the Dean's list from the Fall of 1999 to the Fall of 2002. I also received the Charles R. Jenkins Award for Distinguished Achievement. This paper was written for a graduate Seminar on Gender (ANT 770) taught by my mentor, Dr. Monica Udvardy, who since my entrance into the Department of Anthropology has been my teacher, academic advisor, and friend.
My future academic plans coincide directly with the subject of this submission: ethnographic research on lesbian identity and liberation movements in Latin America. Some of my personal future plans involve extensive travel, self-reflection, and the continued efforts to improve my fluency in Spanish. I enjoy smoking tobacco, sipping tea with honey, and daydreaming. Travel, dance, film, people, music, and cemeteries both stir and satisfy me. I also enjoy reading, writing, and conversation. Of course, nothing beats a battle with a mountain or rainy day porch stooping. |
|
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to document the significant contributors, contents, methodol-ogies, develop-ments, and theoretical frame-works relevant to the anthropological study of homosexuality in Latin America. Among other data, this research project yields regional accounts of gay/lesbian liberation movements, transvestitism, HIV/AIDS, and the inter-sections of gender and power in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and Argentina. Also included in this review are critical assessments of academic sources, ethical dilemmas faced by ethnographers, and spaces available for original research on homosexuality in Latin America. Though this documentation is not totally comprehensive, one can conclude the scarcity of lesbian studies in Latin America and thus the opportunity for fresh ethnographic and applied fieldwork.
Introduction
Until recently, research on human sexuality within the social sciences remained a relatively silenced and invisible phenomenon. The development of research on sexuality within anthropology only surfaced to a significant (still not flourishing) level in the last two to three decades. Moreover, anthropological and/or ethnographic references to sexuality, homosexuality specifically, clustered around the gay/lesbian movements in the United States and Europe. However, in the second half of the twentieth century an international awareness influenced foreign academic circles as well as popular culture. Influences of social movements in the 1970s such as the gay/lesbian and feminist movements funneled directly to Latin America. Due to the increasing visibility of Latin American gay/lesbian movements, research on homosexuality in Latin America is now on the rise. Research and inquiry into male homosexuality, however, still dominates the literature. Fortunately, several current anthropologists (in the subject area) recognize the dearth of information on Latin American lesbians and promote respective investigations. |
Sometimes students reveal insights that seasoned faculty overlook. With an interest in gender and a background in Latin America and Appalachia, Angela turned south to explore the history, scope and depth of extant anthropological research on gender relations in Latin America. She uncovered a dearth of anthropological work on homosexuality until the 1970s. But, more revealing is her exposure of the continued lacuna in the discipline in research on lesbianism south of the US border. Her review of the anthropological literature on homosexuality in Latin America is exceptional for its scope: she has documented the historical development of these studies, as well as their significant contributors, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks. She also makes astute recommendations for directions for future research on this increasingly diverse topic.
|
