This book provides readers with a study of the characteristics that make life unique for sexual minorities in Brazil while also viewing Brazil in relation to global LGBT sociopolitical movements. It critically assesses the complex relationship(s) between the visual arts and political activism, carefully analyzing artistic, cinematic, and photographic representations of LGBTQ identities. Brazil provides a useful case to example, with the cultivation of ambiguity in contemporary (re)constructions of queer life. In this book, the author conducts the first comprehensive discourse analysis of the dynamics and features of the largest LGBT Pride Parade in the world. This problematizes and analyzes the relationship between burgeoning critical socio-political movements and institutions and the language and new media discourses used to configure and conceptualize them. The aim of this project is to create a theoretical scholarly framework promoting linkages between political activism and academic scholarship and by using discourse analysis, the intricacies of terminology Brazilian sexual minorities adopt and adapt, illustrating the development of LGBTQ identities through performative language use.
Steven F. Butterman is Associate Professor of Portuguese and Director of the Portuguese Language Program at the University of Miami, where he has also directed the Women's and Gender Studies program, served as coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Studies programs and developed the minor in LGBTQ Studies.
Butterman is a respected scholar and beloved teacher whose intellectual knowledge and curricular offerings encompass a variety of literary and cultural topics and genres.His ability to reach across disciplinary boundaries, weaving aspects of politics, cultural considerations, societal biases, linguistic variants, and theoretical frameworks, while still remaining focused on specific, topical examples spanning many genres, is admirable. --Marguerite Itamar Harrison, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Smith College Butterman's volume makes a significant contribution to current debates in Brazilian LGBTI+ studies, joining other scholars such as J?lio Assis Sim?es, Berenice Bento, Lorena Bernadette da Silva, Rafael de la Dehesa, James N. Green, Denilson Lopes, Luiz Mott, Richard Parker, and Silviano Santiago. Butterman expresses that his work has a wide-ranging appeal, stating, "my hope is that this book will be of interest to students and scholars across several fields, including Latin American studies, Brazilian studies, queer studies, gender studies, urban studies, history, sociology, psychology, visual studies and new media, cultural studies, and linguistics. -- "Hispania" In Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox, Steven F. Butterman has provided a solid foundation and framework for scholars of gender and sexuality, language, and visual cultures in Brazil. He mentions the chasm between the Northeast and the South and Southeast regions of Brazil on multiple occasions throughout the book. Brazilian studies and queer studies stand to benefit from scholars building on this commendable work by migrating away from the queer metropoles of Brazil (i.e., S?o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) to call attention to and destigmatize queer and trans cultures and lives not just in the Northeast but also in the oft-forgotten Central-West and North. --Joseph L. Rojas, MA, University of Texas at Austin "E3W: Ethnic and Third World Literatures" This material is exemplary of Butterman's first-rate work on Brazil, both in terms of research reliability and thoughtful analysis. Queering and Querying the Paradise of Paradox helps us to understand the specifics of Brazilian sociosexual history, which bulks so large in Latin America's imaginary and in the international imaginary. --David William Foster, Regents Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University
