Rainhas Transformistas de Abaetetuba: con(cu)rsos, performances e performatividades

Abstract

The present research in art aims to create a bricolage between ethnography and autoethnography, linking the memories of this researcher-transformist to those of the transformist artists of Abaetetuba. In the light of the theories of performance, memory and gender performativity, what is sought to understand are the creative processes, gender transitions and political postures of the artists from their participation in gay contests in the city of Abaetetuba (locus of research). The base theorists are Richard Schechner (2003; 2013; 2012); Judith Butler (2018;2019); Paul Preciado (2017; 2018) and Pierre Nora (1993), from which a fruitful dialogue is created with other authors and concepts giving life to the dissertation body. In order to achieve the proposed objective, in the collection of ethnographic data, semi-structured interviews, in loco observations, visual text collections and bibliographic research were used. As a result, the study points out: a- the decolonial existence of the transformist aesthetic and its difference in relation to the Drag aesthetic (Queen/King); b- the existence, in gay contests, of a micropolitics of desire capable of mobilizing territories (social space) and territorialities (subjects' relationships with their internal and external space); c- the real interference of Amazonian culture in the transformist creative imagination; d- existence of common categories between performance art and cultural performance in gay contests (ephemerality, transgression, political character, life/art approximation); and, e-increased visibility, respect and recognition of gay artists, through dance/parade contests in Abaetetuba. The dissertation is divided as follows: in the first chapter, the Baixo Tocantins micro-region is contextualized in its multiple dimensions (social, aesthetic, political), focusing on the city of Abaetetuba. In the second, the artistic category transformism is considered, seeking to justify the choice of such aesthetics, in addition to presenting some elements that make up the gay contests. In the third, the categories performance and performativity are evoked, intuiting to reflect on the restored/performative memories of the Transformist Queens who, when emerging from the sociocultural context of Abaetetubense, (re)construct artistic, identity, micropolitical, spatial, visual, educational and historical. Finally, in the conclusion, the metaphorical calculation of votes is carried out, crowning, amidst the difficulties and acquired knowledge, the old and new Transformist Queens of Abaetetuba