Murder as a destination? Transgender identities in narratives of the Salvadoran postwar 1992‑2021

Abstract

In 1992, the Salvadoran postwar period began. Along this period, the social movement started various demands, and in the literature, we have seen an emergence of subjectivities that contradicted heterosexuality. The present text proposes to analyze the trans identities represented in narratives of the Salvadoran postwar period between 1992 and 2021. Trans identities encompass a series of narrative representations that share an expression and gender identity dissidents from the binary norm of hegemonic heterosexuality. In conclusion, it is highlighted that death as the destiny of trans people reflects the transphobia processes that exist and persist in Salvadoran society; postwar Salvadoran narratives reproduce this transphobic and murderous social imaginary. The trans identities represented correspond only to trans women; transmen are invisible in these narratives. The challenge and the next frontier to overcome in the narrative field is for trans people to be the architects of their histories, placing their subjectivities, desires, identities, problems, aspirations, etc.

Keywords

• El Salvador
• Postwar
• Central America literature
• LGBTI
• transgenderism