Suchergebnisse

This essay contributes to the 'Thirty-year retrospective on language, gender and sexuality research' on the theme of 'Place' by joining other colleagues under two threads: 'going South' and 'going micro'. Under 'going South', I speak from my trajectory and place as a Brazilian scholar to highlight the geopolitical importance of the International Gender and Language Association (IGALA) and the journal Gender and Language, not just for the intellectual and scientific development of studies on language, gender and sexuality but also for research produced in nonhegemonic centres. In defending that we 'go micro' – i.e. that we zoom in our methodological lenses to social interactions in everyday life – I argue for the relevance of interactional studies to the investigation of language, gender and sexuality in action. I illustrate how microanalytical methodological lenses have guided my research, some of the findings they have helped me disclose and some of the applications they have helped me foster.

Este estudo investiga a manipulação do sistema de gênero gramatical entre travestis profissionais do sexo do Sul do Brasil. Verificou-se que há uma preferência êmica do grupo por formas gramaticais femininas. Porém, as tensões ideológicas e corporais que circundam as travestis forçam-nas a utilizar o masculino em contextos específicos. As travestis empregam o masculino gramatical para 1) produzir narrativas sobre o período anterior às suas transformações corporais; 2) reportar discursos produzidos por outros ao falar de travestis; 3) falar de si em suas relações familiares; e 4) distinguir-se de outras travestis com as quais as falantes não se identificam. Assim, o estudo demonstra como essas travestis usam o gênero gramatical do Português como um recurso lingüístico para manipular suas identidades e as identidades da comunidade a que pertencem.

This study investigates Southern Brazilian travestis' manipulation of gender identity through the manipulation of the Portuguese grammatical gender system. We argue that the embodiment of feminine features onto biologically male bodies enables travestis to wander through various ideologies about masculinity and femininity and incorporate these ideologies in their linguistic construction of identity. Travestis use masculine forms to refer to themselves or other travestis when: (1) producing narratives about the time before their body transformations took place; (2) reporting speech produced by others when talking about travestis; (3) talking about themselves within their family relationships; and, perhaps the most unveiling category, (4) distinguishing themselves from 'other' travestis they do not identify with – a face-saving strategy. Thus, the study shows how southern Brazilian travestis use the grammatical gender system in Portuguese as a linguistic resource to manipulate their identity/ies and the identity/ies of the community they belong to.