We Have to be Alive in Order to Marry”: Black LGBT Youth and An Ethnographic Mapping of Geographies of Violence

• In Event: Transnational Queer Organizing Futurities

Abstract

Brazil’s LGBT movement has gained impressive political rights and protections since restoration of democracy. While these political gains suggest increasing tolerance, state and interpersonal violence has also intensified greatly during this period—particularly against black LGBT youth. My paper traces the distinct geographies of violence against black LGBT youth in Rio de Janeiro. Lastly, I present my transnational spatial storytelling (“photovoice”) project with black LGBT youth in Rio and Austin, Texas, suggesting that black LGBT youth’s spatial practices reiterate that dominant LGBT and anti-racist agendas do not sufficiently address the systems and sites of violence that endanger our lives.

Presenter

• Devin Oliver, University of Texas at Austin