Epistemic Engineering and the Lucha for Sexual Rights in Postrevolutionary Nicaragua

Abstract

ResumenDesde 1992-2007, Nicaragua tuvo la problemática distinción de mantener la ley de sodomía más represiva de todas las Américas. En base al trabajo de campo realizado durante varios años con activistas por lo que ellos llaman 'la lucha' por los derechos sexuales, este artículo se enfoca en la 'máquina epistemológica' de la lucha por los derechos sexuales en Nicaragua. En el texto se analizan los dos pilares que han enmarcado dicho activismo: 'Orgullo Lésbico-Gay' y 'Una Sexualidad Libre de Prejuicios', cada cual con su propio origen ideológico y propósitos epistemológicos. Como representantes de discursos políticos y estratégicos de cambios sociales, los activistas han llevado a cabo actuaciones políticas y han divulgado públicamente los discursos para elaborar artesanalmente la forma en que la lucha 'sale' hacia el exterior, se da a conocer y es entendida por el conjunto del cuerpo político nicaragüense. A través de este proceso, los activistas han desarrollado estructuras epistemológicas sobre derechos sexuales en discursos múltiples, incluyendo los de 'liberación universal,' 'derechos minoritarios' y una ética comunitaria, así como el Sandinismo. AbstractFrom 1992 to 2007, Nicaragua had the dubious distinction of maintaining the most repressive antisodomy law in the Americas. Based upon several years of field research with activists involved in what they have called the lucha for sexual rights, this article considers the "epistemological engineering" of Nicaragua's sexual rights struggle. It discusses two distinct frameworks that have informed the work of advocacy: "Orgullo Lésbico-gay" (Lesbian and Gay Pride) and "Una Sexualidad Libre de Prejuicios" (Sexuality Free from Prejudice)-both of which have different ideological [End Page 165] origins and epistemological purposes. As managers of political logics and strategists of social struggle, activists have utilized political performances and publicly disseminated discourses in order to craft the way in which the struggle will "come out," and ultimately how sexual rights will be understood by the larger Nicaraguan body politic. Through this process, activists have developed the epistemic dimensions of sexual rights in multiple registers, including those of universal liberation and minority rights, as well as earlier iterations of a communitarian ethos, including Sandinismo.

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