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2: Global Sexualities - LGBTQ+ Anthropology, Past, Present, and Future

  • Page ID
    255378
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    Upon completion of this chapter, students will be able to do the following:

    • Identify key approaches used in LGBTQ+ studies, including anthropology.
      • Define key terms relevant to particular methods of interpreting LGBTQ+ people and issues, such as anthropology and ethnography.
    • Identify cross-cultural examples of same-sex desire and contemporary LGBTQ+ lives.
      • Describe the connections between identities and embodied experiences.
    • Describe intersectionality from an LGBTQ+ perspective.
      • Analyze how key social institutions shape, define, and enforce structures of inequality.
    • Describe how people struggle for social justice within historical contexts of inequality.
      • Identify forms of LGBTQ+ activism globally.

    • 2.1: Global Sexualities - An Overview
      This chapter introduces students to how sociocultural anthropology studies sexuality as a reflection of cultural values, kinship systems, and social roles. While heterosexuality was long assumed to be the global norm, anthropologists now examine diverse sexualities and gender practices across cultures, questioning heteronormativity as the default model of social organization.
    • 2.2: The Americas
      This section shows how Indigenous and Zapotec communities recognize diverse gender and sexuality roles beyond the Western binary. North American tribes affirm two‑spirit identities as spiritual and social roles, while Zapotec traditions embrace muxes, respected third‑gender individuals who serve as caretakers and community figures. Both highlight cultural acceptance of nonheteronormative practices as integral, not marginal.
    • 2.3: Asia and Polynesia
      In this section you will learn how across Asia and the Pacific, diverse third‑gender identities highlight cultural acceptance beyond the Western binary. South Asia’s hijras hold ceremonial roles and legal recognition; Southeast Asia features bakla, tomboi, and kathoey; Samoa embraces fa’afafine; and Japan historically recognized wakashu and nanshoku. These examples show how societies value gender and sexual diversity in culturally specific ways.
    • 2.4: Africa and Europe
      This section highlights diverse cultural expressions of sexuality and gender. In Africa, examples include ‘yan daudu in Nigeria, female husbands in Kenya and Igbo societies, and sarombavy in Madagascar. In Europe, traditions like Italy’s femminielli and England’s molly houses show historical roles for gender‑variant and same‑sex communities, revealing sexuality as culturally specific and politically contested.
    • 2.5: Profile - Lukas Avendaño- Reflections from Muxeidad (Rita Palacios)
      This section introduces Lukas Avendaño, a muxe artist and anthropologist from Oaxaca, who reflects on identity through muxeidad. He frames muxeidad as a “total social fact,” a third gender within Zapotec culture. His performances explore sexuality, ritual, and the tensions of roles denied to muxes. Through works like Réquiem para un alcaraván, Avendaño critiques tradition while embodying muxeidad from within.
    • 2.6: Profile - Queering Pan-Africanism (Adriaan van Klinken)
    • 2.7: Research Resources
    • 2.8: Glossary
    • 2.9: Footnotes


    This page titled 2: Global Sexualities - LGBTQ+ Anthropology, Past, Present, and Future is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Has Arakelyan.