Gender in the Making: A Pragmatic Approach to Transgender Experiences in Lowland Tropical America

Authors

Magda Helena Dziubinska, Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative (LESC/EREA)Follow
Diego Madi Dias, Universidade de São PauloFollow

Keywords

transgender, Amerindians, gender, kinship, performance

Abstract

Based on long-term fieldwork experiences among both the Guna in Panama and the Kakataibo in Peruvian Amazonia, this article proposes to examine the transgender phenomenon in indigenous America. Making use of the notions of performance and status, we argue that (trans)gender should be understood via two complementary dimensions: at the same time that it is manifested in a set of expressive practices, it is also inscribed in a specific system of social organization. Adopting a pragmatic approach that emphasizes the relational, aesthetic and performative dimensions of gender, the article analyses the ways through which two Amerindian peoples negotiate and inhabit gender rules. This relational approach enables the exploration of gender experiences beyond the notions of female and male, and above all in line with local theories of the body and person.

Recommended Citation

Dziubinska, Magda Helena and Madi Dias, Diego (2019). "Gender in the Making: A Pragmatic Approach to Transgender Experiences in Lowland Tropical America", Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America: Vol. 16: Iss. 2, Article 14, 235-246.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70845/2572-3626.1289
Available at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/tipiti/vol16/iss2/14