Papers by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Revista 2i: Estudos de Identidade e Intermedialidade, 2024
While analysing Las malas (2019) by Camila Sosa Villada, this article looks at the family and its... more While analysing Las malas (2019) by Camila Sosa Villada, this article looks at the family and its intersection within travesti identities and bodies. By portraying a group of travesti sex workers, Sosa Villada proposes alternative ways of constituting a family by questioning the patriarchal heteronormative structure, a structure marked by sexism, violence, homo and transphobia, and how the travesti community transforms the notion of family by making sisters and mothers out of friends and by adopting an abandoned baby. This adoption, an alternative proposal to heterosexual conception, proves to be the biggest obstacle for this community, apart from violence, prejudice, illness and premature death, given that, for the society that surrounds them, the idea of a travesti adopting a child is inconceivable. Las malas offers groundbreaking ways of creating bonds of affection and kinship beyond the structures defined by blood and the law, while also questioning notions of inheritance and genealogy, suggesting that it is through bonds that exist outside the family that feelings of belonging, sharing, and material and emotional security are experienced, especially when the blood family presents itself as a source of trauma and rejection.
Cadernos de Literatura Comparada. n. 39 (2018): Intersexualidades em Questão, 2018
Resumo: Este artigo visa uma breve análise de poemas escritos por mulheres brasileiras contemporâ... more Resumo: Este artigo visa uma breve análise de poemas escritos por mulheres brasileiras contemporâneas cujo trabalho denuncia a violência de género, ao apresentar a exploração do desejo (lésbico) como uma das formas de contrariar o silenciamento e a invisibilidade que é comum a todas as autoras a tratar. Serão analisados excertos de poemas de Angélica Freitas, Adelaide Ivánova e outras vozes recentes à luz de teorias de género, à medida que se tenta desenhar um espaço seguro alternativo para estas mulheres fora do padrão da voz poética normativa. Para além do desejo lésbico, ponto central destes poemas, será também dado enfoque à violência contra as mulheres, tema este que está intimamente relacionado com a orientação e identidade sexual, tendo em conta a posição de uma 'dupla segregação' da mulher cujo comportamento sexual não é normativo (a mulher lésbica, a mulher transexual). Palavras-chave: poesia brasileira; violência de género Abstract: This article aims at a brief analysis of poems written by contemporary Brazilian women writers whose work has been denouncing gender violence, by presenting (lesbian) desire as a way to contradict the silencing and the invisibility which is common to all the writers that will be studied. Excerpts of poems by Angélica Freitas, Adelaide Ivánova and other authors will be analysed, through the lenses of gender theories, in order to explore the creation of an alternative safe space for these women outside the pattern of the normative poetic voice. Themes such as lesbian desire and violence against women will be addressed, since 123
Taking in the metaphor of a “frame” as a space for displaying and mapping, as well as its other m... more Taking in the metaphor of a “frame” as a space for displaying and mapping, as well as its other meaning of “being entrapped”, this paper intends to analyse the placement and exclusion of individuals in a contemporary context in which to migrate over national and abstract borders has become the centre of the heated discussion of current affairs, namely within the not so openly bordered Europe. Images of migrants who flee from conflict zones are daily transmitted and diffused, although not fully apprehended by a public which is often a passive witness, anesthetized by a network of a swarm of images, of coding and “reducing the world to little rectangles” (Ugresic). This paper aims then at looking at the image of the migrant instead of solely analysing her or is movements on a map, while focusing less on the journey itself for the understanding of how these subjects are apprehended, gazed upon and discussed by a (foreign) public.
Looking at matters of scale and distance, receptor and object, one will analyse several cases of distinct media from Andy Warhol’s Silver Pillows, to Dubravka Ugresic’s The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, Judith Butler’s Frames of War to Sontag’s reflections on Regarding the Pain of Others. Ultimately, by taking in the image of the photograph as a framing of the world, one attempts at analysing the travelling aspect of subjects and objects, the migrations that are performed physically across countries (or that are forbidden by walls and barbwire), as well as the travelling images of bodies through photographs or videos, in what is currently an urgent and necessary looking back at the circular aspect of history, of rethinking borders, of calling out for a reshaping of nations, of questioning the ultimate humane aspect of the migrant, the traveller, the refugee, while looking at the new understanding of what diasporas encompass - and whose bodies are allowed to perform them.
(Read) International Conference «Intercultural Poetics. Literary Representations of ‘The Foreign Other’», 2015
By exploring the intercultural aspects of two geographically distinct literary works, Al Berto’s ... more By exploring the intercultural aspects of two geographically distinct literary works, Al Berto’s O Anjo Mudo and Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room, this paper aims to analyse the pose of the foreigner when facing the other, who is often a mirroring of the self rather than a stereotypical reading of the stranger, as one looks at the outside while looking in.
The process of travelling and other migratory movements are the core themes of the case studies, as their poetic voices (both nomads), meander through spaces which are not their own, crossing borders of several countries (Galgut) or borders of unspecified spaces that defy the borders of one’s own national identity and the limitations of the human body when within the borders of her/his ‘home’ (Al Berto).
By exploring the concerns regarding journey, both collective and individual, as well as a shared sense of the link between space and the human body, one intends to bring together both literary works, by acknowledging their similarities on the understanding of the migrant as the central figure of the matrix of thought that dominates the contemporary intercultural and international relations of power and representation. Moreover, the need for a constant reshape, either of the borders of the geographical space or of the limits of the body is one of the major aspects of the case studies, for both are marked by the restless nature of the nomad, who can only find comfort on the road and in spaces of transit rather then at home, be it her/his country or her/his body. By exploring the nature of the migrant, one expects to critically question the other (the foreign space/individual), as identity seems to be established in places of intersection in dialogue with the stranger rather than within the walls of normative spaces.
«Transcultural Amnesia: Mapping Displaced Memories», Universidade do Minho, Portugal
This paper aims at a comparative reading of the spaces in which everyday life is practiced, prese... more This paper aims at a comparative reading of the spaces in which everyday life is practiced, present in the works of Abdulrazark Gurnah’s By the Sea (2001), Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room (2010) and Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex (2002): the airport, the sea, the prison, the road.
While looking at Foucault’s heterotopia, space will be analysed as the product of a crossroads between Marc Augé’s oblivion and non-places and Susan Stewart’s understanding of nostalgia as ‘a social disease’.
The process of travelling will be perceived as a device for the inscription of social and external codes upon the individual (and the collective) bodies. The spaces which they occupy turn into extensions of those bodies, corresponding to the sets of codes which mediate them - deviant bodies (the refugee, the hermaphrodite, the wanderer) will then occupy spaces created for those so-called alternative states of being, often displaced and set in the periphery of representation. The spaces that these characters occupy are often transitory, one’s presence in them is ephemeral and only meant for the action of being crossed; to travel is to forget, to forge new identitary traits that will alter, if not erase, what the subject was before engaging in that same journey, as the body is then faced as an object in-transit. The places to where it arrives create landscapes for the definition of a new identity, one which will give in to processes of acculturation which allow the subject to forget what preceded it, as memories of the past are transformed and manipulated for the maintenance of the present through the process of creating narratives which fictionalize time and space.
(Read) 2nd International Graduate Conference in English and American Studies. Interventions: Private Voices and Public Spaces. Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal., 2014
Through a reading of the novel Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002), this paper aims at facing the... more Through a reading of the novel Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002), this paper aims at facing the queer body in relation to private and public spaces, as these arise as contrasting but complementary places for the definition and construction of sexual identity. Artificial places, constructed locations, imaginary homelands and the adaptation of the body to such locations will be discussed and analysed, as concepts of ‘home’, ‘exile’ and ‘non-place’ are questioned. The importance of the travel as a creator of an in-between place will also be a matter of discussion.
The purpose of this paper is to define a place of representation which does not comply to dichotomies or binary thinking, in which the body is then perceived as an in-between space in itself which meanders within such constructs, without fully representing any, becoming then a space in itself.
Conference Presentations by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Book Reviews by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, 2023
Diacrítica, 2020
Resenha do Livro "Homossexualidade e Resistência no Estado Novo" de Raquel Afonso
Thesis Chapters by Ana Bessa Carvalho
PhD Thesis, 2022
Through a comparative reading of several literary works, while also evoking other art forms, name... more Through a comparative reading of several literary works, while also evoking other art forms, namely photography, this thesis will address matters of queer kinship, inheritance and legacy in contemporary representations of families in the context of the United States of America, namely in two novels Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides (1960-) and The Great Believers (2018) by Rebecca Makkai (1978-), a play, The Inheritance (2018) by Matthew Lopez (1977-) and a memoir, The Argonauts (2015) by Maggie Nelson (1973-). This comparative reading is established through a dialogue between a set of metaphors that permeate the case studies (ghosts, family trees) while also exploring how the discourses about queer bodies and families have been reshaped and challenged over the last twenty years. Looking at families, in the context of queer theories and kinship studies, is perceived as a way of analysing how heteronormative norms shape both the home and the social, as well as how queer individuals have been producing both alternative but also assimilationist kinship structures that guarantee structures for safety and care. Ultimately, this thesis intends to open up a discussion about how queer families have been represented in literature and other art forms, how these representations reinforce or challenge notions of nuclear families and how these are shaped by social and gender norms, and how one generation of artists can contribute, not only to the representation of their times but also to a transgenerational legacy of cultural references.
Books by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Escrever com os pardais: notas para uma zoopoética, 2024
Unbound Queer Time in Literature, Cinema, and Video Games, 2024
This chapter has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
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Papers by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Looking at matters of scale and distance, receptor and object, one will analyse several cases of distinct media from Andy Warhol’s Silver Pillows, to Dubravka Ugresic’s The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, Judith Butler’s Frames of War to Sontag’s reflections on Regarding the Pain of Others. Ultimately, by taking in the image of the photograph as a framing of the world, one attempts at analysing the travelling aspect of subjects and objects, the migrations that are performed physically across countries (or that are forbidden by walls and barbwire), as well as the travelling images of bodies through photographs or videos, in what is currently an urgent and necessary looking back at the circular aspect of history, of rethinking borders, of calling out for a reshaping of nations, of questioning the ultimate humane aspect of the migrant, the traveller, the refugee, while looking at the new understanding of what diasporas encompass - and whose bodies are allowed to perform them.
The process of travelling and other migratory movements are the core themes of the case studies, as their poetic voices (both nomads), meander through spaces which are not their own, crossing borders of several countries (Galgut) or borders of unspecified spaces that defy the borders of one’s own national identity and the limitations of the human body when within the borders of her/his ‘home’ (Al Berto).
By exploring the concerns regarding journey, both collective and individual, as well as a shared sense of the link between space and the human body, one intends to bring together both literary works, by acknowledging their similarities on the understanding of the migrant as the central figure of the matrix of thought that dominates the contemporary intercultural and international relations of power and representation. Moreover, the need for a constant reshape, either of the borders of the geographical space or of the limits of the body is one of the major aspects of the case studies, for both are marked by the restless nature of the nomad, who can only find comfort on the road and in spaces of transit rather then at home, be it her/his country or her/his body. By exploring the nature of the migrant, one expects to critically question the other (the foreign space/individual), as identity seems to be established in places of intersection in dialogue with the stranger rather than within the walls of normative spaces.
While looking at Foucault’s heterotopia, space will be analysed as the product of a crossroads between Marc Augé’s oblivion and non-places and Susan Stewart’s understanding of nostalgia as ‘a social disease’.
The process of travelling will be perceived as a device for the inscription of social and external codes upon the individual (and the collective) bodies. The spaces which they occupy turn into extensions of those bodies, corresponding to the sets of codes which mediate them - deviant bodies (the refugee, the hermaphrodite, the wanderer) will then occupy spaces created for those so-called alternative states of being, often displaced and set in the periphery of representation. The spaces that these characters occupy are often transitory, one’s presence in them is ephemeral and only meant for the action of being crossed; to travel is to forget, to forge new identitary traits that will alter, if not erase, what the subject was before engaging in that same journey, as the body is then faced as an object in-transit. The places to where it arrives create landscapes for the definition of a new identity, one which will give in to processes of acculturation which allow the subject to forget what preceded it, as memories of the past are transformed and manipulated for the maintenance of the present through the process of creating narratives which fictionalize time and space.
The purpose of this paper is to define a place of representation which does not comply to dichotomies or binary thinking, in which the body is then perceived as an in-between space in itself which meanders within such constructs, without fully representing any, becoming then a space in itself.
Conference Presentations by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Book Reviews by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Thesis Chapters by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Books by Ana Bessa Carvalho
Looking at matters of scale and distance, receptor and object, one will analyse several cases of distinct media from Andy Warhol’s Silver Pillows, to Dubravka Ugresic’s The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, Judith Butler’s Frames of War to Sontag’s reflections on Regarding the Pain of Others. Ultimately, by taking in the image of the photograph as a framing of the world, one attempts at analysing the travelling aspect of subjects and objects, the migrations that are performed physically across countries (or that are forbidden by walls and barbwire), as well as the travelling images of bodies through photographs or videos, in what is currently an urgent and necessary looking back at the circular aspect of history, of rethinking borders, of calling out for a reshaping of nations, of questioning the ultimate humane aspect of the migrant, the traveller, the refugee, while looking at the new understanding of what diasporas encompass - and whose bodies are allowed to perform them.
The process of travelling and other migratory movements are the core themes of the case studies, as their poetic voices (both nomads), meander through spaces which are not their own, crossing borders of several countries (Galgut) or borders of unspecified spaces that defy the borders of one’s own national identity and the limitations of the human body when within the borders of her/his ‘home’ (Al Berto).
By exploring the concerns regarding journey, both collective and individual, as well as a shared sense of the link between space and the human body, one intends to bring together both literary works, by acknowledging their similarities on the understanding of the migrant as the central figure of the matrix of thought that dominates the contemporary intercultural and international relations of power and representation. Moreover, the need for a constant reshape, either of the borders of the geographical space or of the limits of the body is one of the major aspects of the case studies, for both are marked by the restless nature of the nomad, who can only find comfort on the road and in spaces of transit rather then at home, be it her/his country or her/his body. By exploring the nature of the migrant, one expects to critically question the other (the foreign space/individual), as identity seems to be established in places of intersection in dialogue with the stranger rather than within the walls of normative spaces.
While looking at Foucault’s heterotopia, space will be analysed as the product of a crossroads between Marc Augé’s oblivion and non-places and Susan Stewart’s understanding of nostalgia as ‘a social disease’.
The process of travelling will be perceived as a device for the inscription of social and external codes upon the individual (and the collective) bodies. The spaces which they occupy turn into extensions of those bodies, corresponding to the sets of codes which mediate them - deviant bodies (the refugee, the hermaphrodite, the wanderer) will then occupy spaces created for those so-called alternative states of being, often displaced and set in the periphery of representation. The spaces that these characters occupy are often transitory, one’s presence in them is ephemeral and only meant for the action of being crossed; to travel is to forget, to forge new identitary traits that will alter, if not erase, what the subject was before engaging in that same journey, as the body is then faced as an object in-transit. The places to where it arrives create landscapes for the definition of a new identity, one which will give in to processes of acculturation which allow the subject to forget what preceded it, as memories of the past are transformed and manipulated for the maintenance of the present through the process of creating narratives which fictionalize time and space.
The purpose of this paper is to define a place of representation which does not comply to dichotomies or binary thinking, in which the body is then perceived as an in-between space in itself which meanders within such constructs, without fully representing any, becoming then a space in itself.