Epistemológias transgressoras: a contribuição dos estudos trans para o campo teórico e político

Abstract

This dissertation aims to argue that the subjectivation of travestis and transsexuals can serve as valuable methodological tools for analysis in the field of contemporary social sciences, particularly in political science. Drawing from my experience as a Black travesti researcher newly arrived in the field, as well as from the analysis of various theoretical works, I seek to map epistemologies that challenge the universal ideal of what constitutes social and political theory. I refer to these critical perspectives as transgressive epistemologies, as they interpret all forms of social analysis through the lens of social positionality, grounded in subjective shifts in theories of gender and sexuality. This epistemic exercise is examined in the context of generational and aesthetic changes within Brazilian federal universities, which have been shaped by public policies promoting access and retention of Black, Indigenous, Quilombola, travesti, and transsexual students. Through the concepts of standpoint, cisgenderness, and whiteness, the aim is to revitalize the discipline with robust, complex, and porous social analyses. I am guided by the idea that transgressions directly impact the so-called identitarian debate within both institutional politics and the contemporary academic field through ethical and moral controversies. Accordingly, this work explores cases of social cancellation of intellectuals in the field of gender and sexuality studies, framing them as the result of tensions between academic knowledge production and social movements. These cases symbolize significant epistemic shifts in both political and academic domains, prompted by alternative readings and interpretations of social phenomena.