"Aqui tu pode ficar" : travestis e relações de poder no espaço urbano de Santa Cruz do Sul - RS.

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to understand and analyze the relations of power that determine how the city of Santa Cruz do Sul is lived by trangender people who live there – even if temporary. For this, I first present a discussion about the city and the urban life, emphasizing the importance of thinking about reality in medium-sized cities. Next, I present the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, seeking to understand the particularities and generalities that exists here. Next, I bring the discussion about the relations of power and knowledge that, according to Foucault's perspective, legitimize or not certain voices in the public space. Following this discussion, I brought to the territory of transgender prostitution. The last chapter is dedicated to thinking about how some spaces and times are not lived by these interlocutors of research, that is, they are not allow to live them. This analysis was made by merging the theories with the observations collected in 13 ethnographic field trips. From this, I discuss how the gender performativity of transgender people influences the way the city and the urban life can be experienced. I conclude by the democratic necessity to think about a more inclusive city, in which the way in which the gender are constructed is no longer a factor of exclusion, marginalization and prejudice.