This book defies long standing assumptions about indigenous societies in the Americas and shows that non-heteronormative sexualities were already present among native peoples in different regions of what is now Latin America before the arrival of European colonizers. Presenting data collected from both literature and field research, the authors give examples of native queer traditions in different cultural regions, such as Mesoamerica, the Amazon and the Andes, and analyze how colonization gradually imposed the models of sexuality and family organization considered as normal by the European settlers using methods such as forced labor, physical punishments and forced marriages. Building upon post-colonial and queer theories, Queer Natives in Latin America: Forbidden Chapters of Colonial History reveals a little known aspect of the colonization of the Americas: how a bureaucratic-administrative, political and psychological apparatus was created and developed to normalize indigenous sexuality, shaping them to the colonial order.

This anthropological volume examines Latin American male homosexualities in Spanish-speaking, Brazilian, and indigenous societies from theoretical, literary, ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and lexicological perspectives. Focusing on issues of family, society, culture, politics, economy and ethnicity, the contributors explore homosexual practices in pre-Columbian indigenous societies and in colonial and modern Latin America. Wide-ranging issues in this volume include homosexual categorization, machismo and homosexuality, the "activo-pasivo" cultural dichotomy, the gay image in Chicano fiction, male homosexuality and Afro-Brazilian possession cults, the gay movement and human rights, and others. The twenty-two articles and essays in this volume demonstrate that Latin American homosexuality is complex and diverse across history, nationalities, and ethnicities. In addition to Stephen O. Murray, contributors are Manuel Arboleda G., beverly N. Chiñas, Wayne R. Dynes, Peter Fry, Paul Kutsche, Luiz Mott, Richard G. Parker, Karl J. Reinhardt, Clark L. Taylor, and Frederick L. Whitman.

What did it mean to be a man in colonial Latin America? More specifically, what did indigenous and Iberian groups think of men who had sexual relations with other men? Providing comprehensive analyses of how male homosexualities were represented in areas under Portuguese and Spanish control, Infamous Desire is the first book-length attempt to answer such questions. In a study that will be indispensable for anyone studying sexuality and gender in colonial Latin America, an esteemed group of contributors view sodomy through the lens of desire and power, relating male homosexual behavior to broader gender systems that defined masculinity and femininity.

This book unveils an ignored aspect of the Brazilian history: how the colonization of the country shaped the sexuality of its indigenous population. Based on textual research, the authors show how the government and religious institutions gradually imposed the family model considered as "normal" to Brazilian indigenous gays through forced labor, punishment, marriages with non-indigenous and other methods. However, such disciplinary practices didn’t prevent the resistance of the natives whose sexuality operates out of the hegemonic model, and the book also analyzes the impact of these forms of dissent on the development of indigenous movements, interethnic relations and indigenous policies in Brazil. Building upon Post-Colonial and Queer theories, the authors present a historical overview of the ideas and practices employed by the religious and governmental authorities to repress homosexuality among indigenous peoples since the beginning of the colonization process, on the 16th century. They also show how this process of colonization of indigenous sexualities goes beyond the formal colonization period, which ended with the Brazilian Independence in 1822, and is part of a wider process of compulsory heterosexualization and heteronormativity of native peoples, based on scientific, theological, social and cultural assumptions that inspired religious, civilizing, academic and political practices throughout Brazilian history.

What did it mean to be a man in colonial Latin America? More specifically, what did indigenous and Iberian groups think of men who had sexual relations with other men? Providing comprehensive analyses of how male homosexualities were represented in areas under Portuguese and Spanish control, Infamous Desire is the first book-length attempt to answer such questions. In a study that will be indispensable for anyone studying sexuality and gender in colonial Latin America, an esteemed group of contributors view sodomy through the lens of desire and power, relating male homosexual behavior to broader gender systems that defined masculinity and femininity.

In this dynamic collection of essays, many leading literary scholars trace gay and lesbian themes in Latin American, Hispanic, and U.S. Latino literary and cultural texts. Reading and Writing the Ambiente is consciously ambitious and far-ranging, historically as well as geographically. It includes discussions of texts from as early as the seventeenth century to writings of the late twentieth century. Reading and Writing the Ambiente also underscores the ways in which lesbian and gay self-representation in Hispanic texts differs from representations in Anglo-American texts. The contributors demonstrate that--unlike the emphasis on the individual in Anglo- American sexual identity--Latino, Spanish, and Latin American sexual identity is produced in the surrounding culture and community, in the ambiente. As one of the first collections of its kind, Reading and Writing the Ambiente is expressive of the next wave of gay Hispanic and Latin scholarship.

While not on the scale of their European and North American counterparts, gays and lesbians have become increasingly open and visible in urban Latin America, with large public displays recently held in Buenos Aires, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. This increased visibility is forcing the general public to come to terms with what has, until now, been a silent part of their population. This book takes a personal look at the activities of Latin America's homosexual community, and the varying perception of it by the populace as a whole. c. Book News Inc.