The Desire of the Laws and the Laws of Desire: LGBT+ Prisoners in the Latin American Confinement Labyrinth

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/raso.99828
Keywords: Anthropology of Confinement, Latin American Prisons, Human Rights, Gender and Sexuality, LGBT
Agencies: La investigación “La población LGBT privada de libertad: Sujetos, derechos y políticas en disputa”, realizada en el Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social de la Universidade de São Paulo (PPGAS-USP) bajo la guía de la profesora livre docente Laura Moutinho se pudo llevar a cabo gracias a três becas de financiamiento: 1) CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de pessoal de Ensino Superior); 2) FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), processo 2015/01528-4. 3) BEPE-FAPESP (Bolsa de Estágio de Pesquisa no Exterior), que financió la estadía de 10 meses en la UAM-X (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Xochimilco, Ciudad de Mexico) junto al acompañamiento del Profesor Rodrigo Parrini Roses, processo 2018/10710-9.

Abstract

In this article I analyze different models of management of sexual and gender diversity in prison in the context of the emergence of specific rights for LGBT+ prisoners in Brazil and Mexico. My proposal is based on a multi-situated ethnography in the largest metropolitan regions of Latin America: São Paulo and Ciudad de México. I realized participant observation in male prisons, interviews with survivors from incarceration, activists and state agents, as well as broad bibliographic research. After reviewing and analyzing previous regimes of management of gender and sexual differences in confinement institutions, I argue that the recent creation of new subjects of rights (such as LGBT+ prisoners) can reinforce structural contradictions of Latin American criminal justice systems.

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Published
2025-12-05
How to Cite
Zamboni, M. (2025). The Desire of the Laws and the Laws of Desire: LGBT+ Prisoners in the Latin American Confinement Labyrinth. Revista de Antropología Social, 34(2), 143-163. https://doi.org/10.5209/raso.99828
Issue
Vol. 34 No. 2 (2025): Monográfico: Cárceles: perspectivas antropológicas
Section
Monographic

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