The Aesthetic and Political Practices of Trans Women in Peru

This book explores the political-aesthetic practices of transgender women in Lima, Peru, and how they use these to survive and fight for recognition and full citizenship, through drawing on ethnographic research and on decolonial feminist and aesthetic theories. Chapters analyze how the vulnerability and precariousness of trans women coexist with modes of feminist agency, resistance and resilience, as well as with proposals for political action to transform a heteropatriarchal society toward a more diverse and accepting one. Finally, the author draws on the Viennese artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser's metaphor of the five skins, whereby the first skin is the epidermis; the second is the clothes; the third is the house; the fourth is identity, which refers to primary socialization spaces such as the neighbourhood; and the fifth is the world environment. The author uses this metaphor to analyze the corporal practices of trans women in a cumulative way, paying special attention to the different stages of their lives, to those skins that embody and accompany them from childhood to adulthood. This book will be of interest to scholars of transgender studies, decolonial feminist studies, and aesthetic, particularly those with a focus on gender and sexuality in Latin America.

Auteur

Paola Patiño Rabines is a researcher with over nine years of consulting, research and cultural and social management experience, as well as extensive knowledge in the areas of multiculturalism, cultural management, education and gender studies in Peru. Some of her previous experience includes working as: Director of the School of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru; independent consultant at the Sofia Group and Institute of Peruvian Studies; and consultant at the Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion in Lima, Peru.