Chapter 8. Queering violence and narrative
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Elizabeth Sara Lewis
Abstract
This chapter argues that it is useful to take a queer stance on studying narratives about violence in marginalized communities, considering “queer” a position countering any type of normalization that produces stigmatized margins (Halperin 1995; Louro 2004), not limited to gender and sexuality. Normative, marginalizing discourses, (re)produced by the media, “the talk of crime” (Caldeira 2000) and hate speech (Butler 1997) tend to characterize Brazilian favelas as dangerous places filled with violent criminals, homogenizing and further stigmatizing their residents (Kokoreff 2003; Valladares 2005). We examine how experiences of violence and daily life are constructed in adolescent favela residents’ narratives, focusing on how they destabilize certain aspects of the normative, marginalizing and homogenizing discourses of the media, and how violence and narrative itself are queered in their constructions.
Abstract
This chapter argues that it is useful to take a queer stance on studying narratives about violence in marginalized communities, considering “queer” a position countering any type of normalization that produces stigmatized margins (Halperin 1995; Louro 2004), not limited to gender and sexuality. Normative, marginalizing discourses, (re)produced by the media, “the talk of crime” (Caldeira 2000) and hate speech (Butler 1997) tend to characterize Brazilian favelas as dangerous places filled with violent criminals, homogenizing and further stigmatizing their residents (Kokoreff 2003; Valladares 2005). We examine how experiences of violence and daily life are constructed in adolescent favela residents’ narratives, focusing on how they destabilize certain aspects of the normative, marginalizing and homogenizing discourses of the media, and how violence and narrative itself are queered in their constructions.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Investigating violence in language 1
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Part I. The language of violence
- Chapter 1. The invention of violence 33
- Chapter 2. Voice and silence in the suburbs of São Paulo 57
- Chapter 3. From the side of the road to the borders of the page 79
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Part II. The violence of language
- Chapter 4. The circulation of violence in discourse 107
- Chapter 5. Racist speech as a linguistic discriminatory practice in Brazil 125
- Chapter 6. Free speech, hate speech, and hate beards 141
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Part III. The intersections of violence, bodies and languages
- Chapter 7. On languages, bodies and epistemic violence 171
- Chapter 8. Queering violence and narrative 189
- Chapter 9. Discursive constructions of deviance in the narratives of a prison inmate 227
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Investigating violence in language 1
-
Part I. The language of violence
- Chapter 1. The invention of violence 33
- Chapter 2. Voice and silence in the suburbs of São Paulo 57
- Chapter 3. From the side of the road to the borders of the page 79
-
Part II. The violence of language
- Chapter 4. The circulation of violence in discourse 107
- Chapter 5. Racist speech as a linguistic discriminatory practice in Brazil 125
- Chapter 6. Free speech, hate speech, and hate beards 141
-
Part III. The intersections of violence, bodies and languages
- Chapter 7. On languages, bodies and epistemic violence 171
- Chapter 8. Queering violence and narrative 189
- Chapter 9. Discursive constructions of deviance in the narratives of a prison inmate 227
- Index 249
