Ariana Rodriguez Medel

This research is situated at the intersection of two subfields of gender studies: trans* studies and masculinities studies. It offers an intimate look at the experiences of transmasculine people and their paths to becoming men in rural and urban spaces in five regions of Mexico (Northwest, Northeast, West, Central, and Southeast), where transmasculine voices have been largely excluded from a broader trans history. In collaboration with my interlocutors, we are inquiring into the location of trans men historically, processes of everyday meaning, use of public spaces, exercise of sexuality, bodily metamorphoses, and the self- and external perceptions of being a man, trans man, and transmasculine person. Combining ethnographic and archival research methods, I rely on three research techniques: oral history, the collection of audiovisual material, and focus groups to learn how trans men have transformed the way they understand their masculinities, their corporealities and the creation of transmasculine political subjectivities from 2001 to the present.