Signifying "others" or signs of life? This book critically examines the ways in which crossing sex and gender is imagined in key cultural texts from contemporary Latin America. Unlike previous studies, Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America does not hold that sexually diverse figures are always and only performative or allegorical and instead places the accent on questions of the presence or absence of an account of subjectivity in contemporary representation. Via analysis of selected films and literary works of Reinaldo Arenas, Mayra Santos-Febres, Pedro Lemebel, among others, the author reflects on the political implications of recent visions (1985-2005).

Autorentext
VEK LEWIS ****is Lecturer in Latin American Studies in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Inhalt
Thinking Figurations Otherwise: Reframing Dominant Knowledges on Sex/Gender Variance in Latin America Grotesque Spectacles: the Janus Face of the State and Gender Variant Bodies in Reinaldo Arenas Life is (More than) a Cabaret: Gender Crossing and 'Trans' Signification in Contemporary Cinema from Latin America Authorising Subjectivity: Eroticism, Epidemia and the In/validation of Bodies in Pedro Juan Gutiérrez's El Rey de La Habana and Mario Bellatin's Salón de Belleza Trans bodies, Popular Culture and (National) Identity in Crisis: Luis Zapata's La Hermana Secreta de Angélica María and Mayra Santos-Febres's Sirena Selena Vestida de Pena Scandalous Embodiments, Shameful Citizenships: Loca and Travesti Subjectivities in the Work of Pedro Lemebel