Exploring Third-Gender Identities in Precolonial Latin America
School
Polytechnic University of the Philippines**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
HIST 10033
Subject
Anthropology
Date
Dec 11, 2024
Pages
8
Uploaded by PresidentMask17969
The Historical Erasure of Third-Gender Identities in Latin AmericaThe traditional cultures of Latin America had extremely complex positions concerning gender before colonization, and third-gendered roles were commonplace in many Indigenous tribal societies. For instance, the Joyas described in the text ‘Extermination of the Joyas’ were a third gender legally permissible in Yucatan. Such people were found to have postmarital roles that were highly ranked in spirituality as they acted as intermediaries between the physical realm and the supernatural. Similarly, the third gender was present among the Zapotec of Oaxaca by way of such customs, where muxes were able to perform crucial roles of bearing and supporting society as well as preserving its traditions. As opposed to the more formalized binary systems built later, Indigenous gender arrangements were performed and coded to enable movement, asserting that networking facilitated change and suggesting Indigenous cosmological conceptualization of gender as a matter thoroughly embedded in spirit and society. This framework allowed the third sex to have an accepted status within the society and allowed for their inclusion. However, European colonizers, especially the Spaniards, consciously erased these identities, using their bipolar system of dividing gender as a tool of colonialism. They considered third-gender roles as sinful or unnatural and thereby marginalized Indigenous worldviews and imposed hetero-patriarchal Christian encodings on them. This erasure began the significant change in a delicate balance of Indigenous civilizations. In the active targeting of third-gender identities and roles, Spanish colonizers destabilized pre-colonial Latin American societies. They used the male/female binary as a weapon of cultural imperialism. Most cultures native to Australia recognized a third gender, and these people were very highly regarded in theirsociety. Ceding to colonial influence, the binary norms of feminine and masculine erased these
multiple attitudes. They formed the basis for binary structures that characterize modern society and its march towards enhancing liberation from such frameworks.The Precolonial Recognition of Third GendersAmong other things, before the colonization of Latin America, the third gender was essential to the community's social, religious, and aesthetic life. For example, the Joyas depicted in Extermination of the Joyas were Indigenous people who inhabited societies that accepted effeminate individuals. About the sacred and the apparent, these people had sundry roles. Some argued that the subject positions were vested in the cultic ability to traverse the divine and mundane realms. Likewise, the Zapotec muxes had other essential roles, including childcare and art, to uphold the community's cultural values. Such roles were not redefined in a strict sense but rather fit with the needs of the communities, which shows essential flexibility in the gender systems of pre-colonial societies. These systems acknowledged the presence of male and female and third-gender elements encompassed within a universe of harmony and interconnectivity. It eliminated a clear division and duality of roles and gender and gender identity, thereby creating amuch healthier social model. But this very harmony was shaken with the arrival of European colonizers, who rejected such a system of understanding as heresy. They were not mere cultural encroachments but conscious efforts at subversion of systems they considered incompatible with colonialism. This loss was a grievous defeat of Indigenous epistemology and ontology, dismantling the fabric of numerous Indigenous pluralistic societies.The Joyas are seen as subject to this violence as they symbolize the ultimate erasure of the third gender. These people were considered threats to the colonial enterprise and specifically to the heteropatriarchal Catholic order that Spanish colonizers sought to impose. The extermination of the Joyas reveals that most of the Joyas were either killed or forced to disown
their sexuality, which was followed by the genocidal erasure of their culture. This violent repression involved other third-gender configurations across the Americas, which reconfigured Indigenous societies quite extensively. According to the colonialist discourse, such people were considered perverts, and their oppression became a way to establish a European ethic. This erasure was not only directed at people but also regarded as the obliteration of gender-diversity-affirming rituals, symbols, and spaces. These facets were removed and replaced by simplified Western gender systems geared towards the domination and subjection of Indigenous peoples. This erasure also proved helpful towards the reinforcement of colonial authority, thus showing that the removal of third-gender function was not just absorbing gender bias but was indeed functioning as a tool of oppressive colonial strategies.Third-gendered individuals such as muxes within the Zapotec community serve as an example of how much gender identity has not faded even under colonialization for centuries. TheJoyas, on the other hand, lost almost all of their positions within the Zapotec society because of colonization; however, muxes could maintain their roles differently within the new colonial context. As discussed in the empirical research, muxes remain prominent in families and communities and serve as caretakers, cultural bearers, and emerging leaders. They complicate thecolonial dualisms by occupying a space that does not fit into Western gender classifications. However, resilience is not without risks. The incorporation of both ‘Indígena’ and ‘Moderna’ aspects into muxe identity exemplifies the struggle between maintaining Indigenous culture and blending into the twenty-first century. The muxes adopted some elements of Catholicism, which shows how the colonized societies adapted and reinvented themselves in the face of imposed structures. These aspects underline the resilience of Indigenous populations’ cultures while indicating the impact of colonialism on the community. In some ways, Muxes’ survival is an
example of the strength of Indigenous knowledge, but it also reflects the continued violence of colonial erasure.The European colonization of America melted into an interruption of Indigenous persons’complex conceptions of gender. Thus, having introduced a strict divide of genders, colonizers erased the flexibility of pre-colonial notions of gender. What was worse was not only the eradication of the third-gender characters but also the exclusion of women and non-conforming people from the newly introduced patriarchy. A primary factor in this process was the Roman Catholic Church, which had an intellectual justification for erasing Indigenous voices. To maintain a bipolar approach to society, education systems, labor structures, and governance models were adapted to mimic the European ones. As mentioned in Extermination of the Joyas, it was customary to erase third-gender indigenous people as it was their visions and knowledge. Thus, what had been embraced as gender diversity in Indigenous societies became criminalized and devalued, and the cosmologies of Indigenous people became distorted as sinful by the colonizers. This cultural violence was then imposed onto the societies in Latin America and continues to the modern aspect of relations between the feminine and masculine genders as well as the fixed gender roles that are peculiar to the region. This is why it is essential to understand backdrops like these in cases of any contemporary issue regarding gender equality and diversity.Colonial Erasure and the Enduring Impact on Gender NormsThe process of colonization is known to have caused the elimination of third-gender positions as it has contributed to the formation of binary gender in Latin American societies. In the same way, eradicating the Joyas or erasing the existence of Muxes is evidence of how Colonial structures employed Gender as a weapon of subjugation. These passages underscore that colonizers aimed to eradicate Indigenous peoples and reduce the cultural landscape to
European frameworks, which erased two-spirit people. This loss of culture was not a side effect of colonization but a deliberate strategy that ensured the colonized would embrace the European way of life. As such, third-gender identities continue to occupy the periphery of legal, social, andcultural norms, thereby extending the relations of domination. Such colonial dualisms of femininity and masculinity were further reinforced, especially by the Catholic Church, which, as a credible colonial agency, generated such gender discourses as divine revelations. To this date, the public opinion and legal frameworks of many countries of Latin America remain influenced by these colonialist clichés that do not allow for the recognition and integration of gender minorities. This suppression demonstrates that colonial constructs are salient in postcolonial societies due to socialization theories prevalent in today's communities.In this way, muxes represent the opportunities of the decolonization process through the culture of assemblages and fights. Despite the discrimination and exclusion that muxes suffer, they maintain their cultural status within the Zapotec community. They are living examples of Indigenous peoples’ abilities to continue to live and co-exist, contrary to conventional Western thinking. It highlights that the contemporary LGBTQ+ movements also possess their erasure, especially when it comes to Indigenous gender identities and their pasts. Differently from other international movements that call for acceptance of various sexually ambiguous people, muxes struggle for the preservation of cultural aspects that would embrace them. Their intrusiveness does not end at paying lip service to issues of relevancy such as health care, employment, and protection of traditional values. Consequently, muxes’ stand against Westernisation and the incorporation of gender non-binary identities into Western imagery counteracts colonialism’s erasure of gender and enacts change. They substantiate the oppression of gender and systems, positioning muxes as active proponents in combating prejudice.
That colonial gender models persist into the present exemplifies why historical accounts must be adapted and transformed to support change. Understanding these systems has marginalized and erased gender-diverse identities because they write inequality and restore injustice in society. The history of the Joyas and muxes illustrates the effects of such disappears and showcases the pain of colonial erasure and its potential for future endurance. This is where the society is made to go through the formal rites of decolonization if the aim is to gain inclusionas a process that requires completely overwriting the binaries. This goes beyond mere recognition of the wrongs committed in the past; it involves change that embraces difference and supports Indigenous peoples and their cultures. It is, therefore, a function of social justice and cultural healing, where erasing these legacies is instrumental to creating inclusive contexts that are in harmony with the diversity of human experiences.As demonstrated by colonial legacy and African gender constructs, decolonization is not only a necessary process but an imperative. Therefore, to counter the colonial legacy that maintains the power of binarised gender norms in modern Latin American societies, it is essential to amplify the voices of gender-diverse persons such as the Muxes. In this context, theirability to rise again provides a guideline for reframing gender that goes beyond dichotomy and calls for diversity. To allow societies to move forward and start a process of healing generated bycolonialism, Indigenous knowledge has to be included in discourses on gender and social justice.These changes involve civilizational adjustments that, besides shifting the nature of education, health care, and laws, work on eradicating the exclusion of third-gender individuals. The stories of the Joyas and Muxes also help the world understand that inclusion is not only about accepted appearance but also the change of society’s structure to eradicate prejudices and discriminative
norms. This stage delves into constructing a new culture that respects, values, and affirms the plurality of human beings and their identities.In conclusion, the colonialism erasure narrative of third-gender identities in Latin America shows the degree of colonization's influence on Indigenous societies. The colonizers destroyed the natural androgyny and gender-liberal societies by isolating people like the Joyas and oppressing groups like the Muxes. The binary norms in question worked as ways to dominate, practically wiping out any variations of gender identities and replacing them with the systems still in place today. But the tenacity of muxes holds a promise for the decolonization of gender and the Indigenizing of knowledge. Their existence rejects a colonial rationale of marginalization, allowing society to envision a far more integrated society. This paper seeks to uncover the origin of the current norms of sexual and gender binary to begin to dismantle the ways that this system is oppressive against women. The Joyas and Muxes’ stories prove that people should accept and appreciate the plurality and the richness of gender identities. It appears then that the journey toward decolonization is a way of healing and building for a future inclusive of all gendered experiences.