View Gender Performance and Transgression As It Relates to a Long-Standing System of Domination and Oppression in Latin America
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Gender Transgression and Hegemony: the Politics of Gender Expression and Sexuality in Contemporary Managua Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John Stephen Petrus, M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Ileana Rodríguez, Advisor Laura Podalsky, Co-Advisor Guisela Latorre Copyright by John Stephen Petrus 2015 Abstract In this dissertation I study transgressive gender expression and performance in contemporary Nicaragua (1979-present) in order learn about how distinctive strategies of gender expression relate to the coloniality of power and knowledge and transnational political ideologies. I show how Nicaraguan performers contend with, mediate, critique, and/or reinforce expectations of gender performance promoted by local and global centers of power. The goal of this project is to provide a better understanding of how coloniality has continued to function with respect to gender performance in very recent years and also to highlight the brave, complex, creative, and astute cultural interventions that are being created by Nicaraguan artists and performers that grapple with oppressive gender systems. I carry out my analysis by reading and engaging intellectually with audio-visual cultural texts from a variety of media including performance art, television programs, short documentaries, low-budget videos, film, and photography produced in the last two decades. Specifically, I analyze the gender performances in the television show International News Network in chapter 1, in recent Nicaraguan film and video productions in chapter 2, in Elyla Sinvergüenza’s performance art in chapter 3, and in annual diversidad sexual events LGBTI Pride and Operación Queer in chapter 4. I highlight gender transgression in these cultural texts in order to demonstrate and appreciate the cultural interventions being done by contemporary Nicaraguan artists, ii activists, and thinkers to actively contest compulsory heterosexuality, violent masculinity, hegemonic normative gender roles, and State and international sexual politics. I focus specifically on representations and performances of and by Nicaragua’s sexual diversity due to the fact that these individuals are both 1) particular targets of gender policing and gendered violence, and 2) the most active transgressors of gender norms in their cultural texts and their everyday lives. I show how gender performance for Nicaragua’s sexual diversity is a complex negotiation between identity politics, State ideologies, geo- political pressures, and local cultures and traditions. In order to study gender transgression in these media, I engage with a variety of theoretical lines of inquiry that help to frame the questions listed above and to apply them to the context of contemporary Managua. I draw from the discussion in Latin American Cultural Studies on coloniality, particularly its relation to gender roles and categories, in order to view gender performance and transgression as it relates to a long-standing system of domination and oppression in Latin America. I draw on political theory, especially that of neoliberalism, in order to show how economic and political systems influence representational strategies and body politics in diversidad sexual communities. Finally, Queer theory has taken on the task of de-naturalizing and deconstructing sexual dimorphism, the heterosexual-homosexual binary, and the viability of identity politics. In this way, it has provided an approximation to gender and sexuality studies that focuses on performativity and the social construction of masculinities and femininities. I implement this theoretical approximation to show how gender expression is a practice that can support or contest hegemonies. iii Dedication Dedicated to all the cochones del barrio in Managua who carve out a place for themselves in a society that sees them as abject. iv Acknowledgements It takes a transnational village to raise a scholar. I owe my Advisor, Ileana Rodríguez more than she will ever know. I have had the privilege to work with her since 2008, and she remains the most eloquent, provocative, and hardworking intellectual I have had the pleasure to work with. Laura Podalsky and Guisela Latorre have also been role models of mine. They are truly exemplary thinkers and my project would have never made it onto paper without their encouragement, support, and input. I would like to express my gratitude to the colectivo ex/centrO and the grupo de estudios at the IHNCA—working groups that not only introduced me to new ways of thought and productive intellectual debate, but raised my expectations for myself as a scholar. I would like to thank the CLAS at OSU and the Tinker foundation for funding my initial research in Managua, the IHNCA-UCA in Managua for being so supportive of my project and my research and for being a home away from home, and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at OSU for allowing me to flourish and to create my own academic path. I am extremely thankful for all of my colleagues and friends who have helped me academically, emotionally, and spiritually in Columbus and Managua. I am grateful to all the visual artists attempting to make cultural change happen in Nicaragua—I am inspired and empowered by your work. And, lastly, but most certainly not least, thank you, Bill. You are my rock, my soundboard, my therapist, my lover, and my partner in crime. v Vita 2005-2009 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH B.A. summa cum laude with Honors and Distinction in Spanish and French 2010-2012 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH M.A. In Spanish 2012-present The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Ph.D. Candidate in Latin American Literatures and Cultures Publications “International News Network: Un análisis de transgresiones de género en la producción audio-visual nicaragüense” In: Revista de Historia. #29 2014. Managua: IHNCA-UCA (Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica- Universidad Centroamericana). “Huecos en el archivo: la homosexualidad como obstrucción de justicia en el caso Gerardi” In: Revista de Historia. #27 September-December, 2012. Managua: IHNCA- UCA (Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica- Universidad Centroamericana). “Argentinian Queer Mater: Del Bildungsroman urbano a la Road Movie rural: Infancia y juventud post- Corralito en la obra de Lucía Puenzo” Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana (junio 2011). Co-authored with Fernando Blanco Fields of Study Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese Specialization: Latin American Literatures and Cultures vi Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………v Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………...vi Vita…………………………………………………………………………………......vii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………….…….viii Introduction: Theoretical Concepts, Review of Existing Literature, and Potential Significance……………………………………………………………….…….1 Chapter 1: Tuning in to Gender Transgression: The Cultural Politics of International News Network………..…………………………………………………………27 Chapter 2: Diversidad Sexual on the Screen (Big and Small): Nicaraguan Film and Video……………………………………………………………………...…….78 Chapter 3: Transformative Performance Art…………………………………………...128 Chapter 4: Diversidad Sexual en Marcha: Pride and Operación Queer in Managua…...167 Conclusion…….………………………………………………………………………..211 References/Works Cited……………………………..…………………………………215 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Moncho Ramón………………………………………………………………45 Figure 2: Mariconasol Advertisement………………………………………………….53 Figure 3: Campaign Against INN………………………………………………………55 Figure 4: Jacinto Barba Photo Shoot.….……………………………………….....……62 Figure 5: Interlocking Male Signs….……………………………………………..……66 Figure 6: Image 1 from A quien le importa.……………..………………………..……105 Figure 7: Image 2 from A quien le importa.…..…………………………………..……106 Figure 8: Elyla Sinvergüenza in “Revolución de la memoria”……..……………..……154 Figure 9: Image 1 of Elyla Sinvergüenza in “Sólo fantasía…”…….……………..……158 Figure 10: Image 2 of Elyla Sinvergüenza in “Sólo fantasía…”.………………....……158 Figure 11: La Gigantona and El Enano Cabezón.......……………………………..……161 Figure 12: Elyla Sinvergüenza in “Se la bailó”.…………………………………..……165 Figure 13: The First Gay Pride in Sex and the Sandinistas ..……………………..……175 Figure 14: Collage Activity at Operación Queer 2013..…………………………..……197 Figure 15: Image 1 of Altar to Vaginas …………………………………………..……208 Figure 16: Image 2 of Altar to Vaginas….………………………………………..……209 viii Introduction: Theoretical Concepts, Review of Existing Literature, and Potential Significance People, listen to what your jotería is saying. The mestizo and the queer exist at this time and point on the evolutionary continuum for a purpose. We are a blending that proves that all blood is intricately woven together, and that we are spawned out of similar souls. -Gloria Anzaldúa (Borderlands/La Frontera 107) ÚLTIMA HORA: La Policía Nacional ha informado que no se puede realizar la marcha del Orgullo LGBTI en Nicaragua el día de mañana. El comunicado que fue divulgado esta tarde sobre la cumbre presidentes, cancilleres y ministros de energías PETROCARIBE a desarrollarse a partir de mañana afectó la ruta aprobada. (Sinvergüenza, Elyla “Última Hora”) Two summers ago, in May of 2013, I set off to make contacts and to begin research on gender performance in popular festivals in Nicaragua. I was inspired by Katherine Borland’s