Muxe de Oaxaca

The NYT recently reported on the Muxe gender formations in Zapotec culture in Oaxaca Mexico.
Link to article

Alejandra Islas has also made a documentary that can be viewed online here.

Lynn Stephens has also written an article in Latin American Perspectives here.

Some unanswered questions remain; such as how does the acceptance of a "3rd gender" in Zapotec communities contribute to their racialization in Mexico? An historical question here might be to think through the conditions of possibility for this cultural continuity. In other words, how is it that Muxe genders have transformed through the colonial encounter and subsequent incorporation into nationalist hegemony. One question that I ponder is what are the conditions of possibility for transexual subjectivities in a patriarchial system? Is it that only men are tolerated to occupy queer gender formations.

Any other thoughts here?

Welcome

Bienvenidos, this is the inaugural post for the web log of the DeColonial Feminism Working Group at the University of California, Berkeley. This group is one among a constellation of others dedicated to a coordinated and focused conversation about the intersection of philosophy, gender studies, race studies, and cultural studies. This multi-sited project has many origins but has most recently been led by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture (CPIC). These working groups continue the conversations represented in the Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise: A Web Dossier (WKO). Please use this blog as a supplement to coordiante, collaborate, and discuss the group's work.