Sexual Dissidences: Frau Diamanda’s Catalan Scenes, the Travesti Politics of Resistance, and Anti-canonical Knowledge

Despite its long history, the unique Latin American phenomenon of sexual identity, travesti, has been largely overlooked in Western European discourse. Travesti brings to life systems of knowledge and the attitude of autonomy that occupies a distinct position within the clash of class, gender, and race. The development of long-term forms of ephemerality sheds light on processes of travesti anti-capitalist revolt, as well as the capacity of travesti to exploit and/or migrate themselves in order to make life possible and worth living, and the dynamics of practices and reflections to emerge anew. Despite the necropolitical grip on their lives, the swaying of travesti bodies is both witty and powerful. They themselves have taken detailed steps to find a way to exist and build communities.

Drawing together numerous writers, voices, performers, artists, and historians, this book is not merely about travesti, it is travesti.

The second part of the book is a translation of Frau Diamanda/Hector Acuna’s book Escenas Catalana. With Forewords by Diego Falconi Travez and Hernan Migoya, and illustrations by Juan Carlos Cajigas “Juka”, Cesar “Chechi” Chavez, Jesus Garcia, and Rapha Hu.