From Necropraxis to Necroresistance: Transgender Experiences in Latin America

Abstract

Latin America is one of the deadliest regions for trans communities. Scientific research generated in the region has reported that trans people live through a complicated panorama shaped by multiple forms of oppression, extreme violence, and micro-aggressions. Although necropolitics, as a theoretical approach, has been useful to understand how State policies negatively affect trans individuals, it does not fully account for informal dynamics within groups and among individuals that are potentially lethal for this population in Latin America. To account for this gap, the author proposes two novel concepts: necropraxis (a pattern that manifest itself in everyday social interactions, through which gradual small doses of death are delivered to eliminate, symbolically and/or literally, trans people); and necroresistance (the ways in which trans people defy the threats imposed by necropraxis through “ordinary” acts manifested in their everyday life). The main objective of this article is to put forth definitions for these two concepts and identify how they apply in the context of trans communities in three countries of the region: Guatemala, Argentina, and Chile. To achieve the latter, the author relies on her ethnographic work in these contexts. Data were gathered through parcipant observation, in-depth interviews with trans persons ( N = 11) and informal conversations with individuals during the site visits. A deductive qualitative analysis was conducted. Results evidence how the manifestation of necropraxis and necroresistance were highly influenced by the historical, political, economic and sociocultural context of each country. This study provides valuable information to help both policymakers and other stakeholders understand the problem’s magnitude in the region and the ways necropraxis is experienced in everyday relations between trans individuals and others. Similarly, through the understanding of what constitutes necroresistance and its value, the proposed framework could help them outline prevention and management strategies to strengthen trans communities in different countries.

Oil extraction and Indigenous women: Examining the necropolitics of the settler state in the Bakken region

“…Several feminist authors drawing on intersectional theory have further developed necropolitics to understand how the elimination of populations functions along axes of race but also gender, class, sexuality, and other identities of social difference. They reveal both the power relations that deliberately push women of color and gender non-binary people toward invisibility and death (Chung, 2020;Haritaworn et al, 2014;Islekel, 2022;Rodríguez Madera, 2020;Wright, 2011) and the logics and processes of (de)valuation that are built into the sociopolitical fabrics of North and South American societies. Wright (2011) examines the growing disappearances and murders of women and girls in Juarez, Mexico, as linked to the feminization of labor in western export processing zones.…”

“…Mbembé, rather, focused on the inadequacy of biopower to explain the prevailing threat of death used as a governing tactic over populations in contemporary post-colonial societies. For these “savage” populations deemed a threat to the sovereign's power or authority, life is subjugated to the power of death (Rodríguez Madera, 2020) marking them “to die” in order for others “to live” (Mbembé, 2003; Quinan and Thiele, 2020).…”

“…The deaths of Black women are generally justified and not met with widespread outcry because they happen outside of public view and are therefore not seen as a threat to the general public. Rodriguez Madera's (2020) work traces how necropower functions within trans-identified communities in Latin America through “everyday” interactions. Various societal structures—the home, school, or work—create death worlds for trans individuals where they commonly experience daily microagressions which aim to eliminate trans people either symbolically or literally because of their non-conforming sexual and gender identities.…”

Experiencias turísticas de disidentes de género en América Latina

“…En América Latina, los colectivos pertenecientes a la diversidad sexual y de género son objeto de estigma social y por lo tanto vulnerables y a menudo víctimas de exclusión social, discriminación y violencia (Alva, 2019). Las personas con identidades de género no normativas son víctimas de altos niveles de opresión y violencia en diferentes áreas de su vida, debido a los múltiples factores de desigualdad social que experimentan en esa región (Rodríguez, 2020). América Latina es el área del mundo que tiene el mayor índice de violencia y homicidios de personas con diversidad de género, sobre todo de personas trans.…”