Brazilian 'Travesti' Migrations

This book sheds new light on the interconnections between identity, gender and geographical displacement. At its centre are Brazilian travesti migrants, assigned as male at birth but later seeking to convey the aesthetic attributes of womenbyrepeatedly performing a minutely-studied type of femininity. Despite the fact that they have been migrating between Brazil and Europe for more than forty years, very little is know about them,especially in the English-speaking world. This work therefore fills a significant lacuna in our understandings of sexualities, bodies and trans issues, whilst rejecting hegemonic terms such as 'transsexual' and 'transgender' in favour of the specificity of the travesti. What it presents is an ethnographical study of theirbodily and geographic-spatial migrations, analysing how theybecome travestis through the gendered modification of their bodies, their involvement in sex work, and thetransnational migrations to Europe that many of them make.Examining their lives in both Brazil and Europe, it also analyseshow their migrations influence the construction of their subjectivities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Brazil and Barcelona, this exciting book will appeal to all those interested ingender, sexuality and transgender issues.