Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox: LGBT Language, New Media, and Visual Cultures in Modern-Day Brazil

by Steven F. Butterman University of Miami

Overview

This book provides readers with a study of the characteristics that make life unique for sexual minorities in Brazil while also viewing Brazil in relation to global LGBT sociopolitical movements. It critically assesses the complex relationship(s) between the visual arts and political activism, carefully analyzing artistic, cinematic, and photographic representations of LGBTQ identities. Brazil provides a useful case to example, with the cultivation of ambiguity in contemporary (re)constructions of queer life. In this book, the author conducts the first comprehensive discourse analysis of the dynamics and features of the largest LGBT Pride Parade in the world. This problematizes and analyzes the relationship between burgeoning critical socio-political movements and institutions and the language and new media discourses used to configure and conceptualize them.

The aim of this project is to create a theoretical scholarly framework promoting linkages between political activism and academic scholarship and by using discourse analysis, the intricacies of terminology Brazilian sexual minorities adopt and adapt, illustrating the development of LGBTQ identities through performative language use.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538150894
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/02/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	318
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Steven F. Butterman is Associate Professor of Portuguese and Director of the Portuguese Language Program at the University of Miami, where he has also directed the Women's and Gender Studies program, served as coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Studies programs and developed the minor in LGBTQ Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Pondering the Paradise of Paradox: LGBTI+ Culture in Brazil Today

Chapter 1. A Decade of Decadence: The Emergence of the Largest Gay Pride Parade on the Planet (1997 – 2006)

Chapter 2. Winter Carnaval fora de época?: Progression and Retrogression in São Paulo’s LGBT Pride Parade (2007 – 2011)

Chapter 3. WhatsZapping the LGBT Pride Parade of São Paulo: Fake News and the (Ab)uses of Social Media Platforms in Digital Brazil (2012 – 2020)

Chapter 4. Looking Them Up (and Down): What (Homo)Sexuality Means in Brazilian Reference Works

Chapter 5. Translating Trans in Brazilian Culture

Chapter 6. Tracing the Trenches of the Travesti Travesty: Trans Photography and Artivism in Brazil

Chapter 7. (For)Getting Far Away from Home: Cinematic Representations of 21st-Century (LGB)Trans Brazil

Chapter 8. What’s Queer Got to do With It? Queernormativity and Heterobrasilidade in Brazil’s Queermuseu

Epilogue: The (R)evolving Closet Door in LGBT Brazil

Appendix: The Queer-stionnaire

Notes

Bibliography

Newspaper Articles and Periodicals Cited in Chapters 1 – 3

Filmography of 21st-Century LGBT Brazilian Cinema

Index

Editorial Reviews

Butterman’s volume makes a significant contribution to current debates in Brazilian LGBTI+ studies, joining other scholars such as Júlio Assis Simões, Berenice Bento, Lorena Bernadette da Silva, Rafael de la Dehesa, James N. Green, Denilson Lopes, Luiz Mott, Richard Parker, and Silviano Santiago. Butterman expresses that his work has a wide-ranging appeal, stating, “my hope is that this book will be of interest to students and scholars across several fields, including Latin American studies, Brazilian studies, queer studies, gender studies, urban studies, history, sociology, psychology, visual studies and new media, cultural studies, and linguistics.

Hispania

This material is exemplary of Butterman’s first-rate work on Brazil, both in terms of research reliability and thoughtful analysis. Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox helps us to understand the specifics of Brazilian sociosexual history, which bulks so large in Latin America’s imaginary and in the international imaginary.

David William Foster

Butterman is a respected scholar and beloved teacher whose intellectual knowledge and curricular offerings encompass a variety of literary and cultural topics and genres.His ability to reach across disciplinary boundaries, weaving aspects of politics, cultural considerations, societal biases, linguistic variants, and theoretical frameworks, while still remaining focused on specific, topical examples spanning many genres, is admirable.

Marguerite Itamar Harrison

In Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox, Steven F. Butterman has provided a solid foundation and framework for scholars of gender and sexuality, language, and visual cultures in Brazil. He mentions the chasm between the Northeast and the South and Southeast regions of Brazil on multiple occasions throughout the book. Brazilian studies and queer studies stand to benefit from scholars building on this commendable work by migrating away from the queer metropoles of Brazil (i.e., São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) to call attention to and destigmatize queer and trans cultures and lives not just in the Northeast but also in the oft-forgotten Central-West and North.

E3W: Ethnic and Third World Literatures - Joseph L. Rojas

In Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox, Steven F. Butterman has provided a solid foundation and framework for scholars of gender and sexuality, language, and visual cultures in Brazil. He mentions the chasm between the Northeast and the South and Southeast regions of Brazil on multiple occasions throughout the book. Brazilian studies and queer studies stand to benefit from scholars building on this commendable work by migrating away from the queer metropoles of Brazil (i.e., São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) to call attention to and destigmatize queer and trans cultures and lives not just in the Northeast but also in the oft-forgotten Central-West and North.

E3W: Ethnic and Third World Literatures