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- Berg, Linda, 1974-
(författare)
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"25 dollar rebel": Identity politics, Legislation and Class in stories from Lesbian Activists in Nicaragua
- 2010
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Ingår i: Dissident Citizenship: Queer Postcolonial Belonging.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One interviewee says she has always been a marimacha, another view herself as a lesbian identified with gay men and a third talk about the importance of being a woman and not a cochóna. At manifestations they all have t-shirts with a person screaming “Soy Rebelde, Soy lesbiana, Soy mujer, Soy Ciudadana!!!” and “Exijo mis Derechos!”. The common political symbols and rhetoric are a huge part of the campaigns for sexual diversity, towards being able to exist as a sexual minority and a Nicaraguan citizen. To get finance for the work towards “sexual freedom”, identity politics is absolutely necessary. Fighting for acknowledge GLBT rights (in the ‘west’), are legitimate reasons for funding through international non-governmental organizations. Through this perspective identity politics, rather than queer theory, seem to be part of a colonial heritage. Hence categories such as lesbian, gay and trans- are presented as liberating space in the work for “a sexuality free from prejudice” and I find it interesting to ask how, why and when the identity-labels are being used.One important goal for the lesbian activists in Nicaragua is still visibility – to be recognized and accepted as lesbian women. In 1992 a law against same-sex, Article 204, was initiated and upheld by the Nicaraguan Supreme Court in 1994. The main target of article 204 was not women; but the initiative was part of an increased security for (heterosexual) women. Fortunately the article was abolished 2008, when a new Penal Code was drafted. Hence as in so many places and for such a long time the sexuality of women has been ignored in the legislation. On top of this, lesbian women generally have a hard time getting an independent life in Nicaragua. Women in the popular classes are often expected to take care of a common household and are economically dependent on male relatives. In the following paper I will discuss strategies to survive as a lesbian and lesbianism as part of survival as a queer citizen in Nicaragua.
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- Berg, Linda, 1974-
(författare)
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Solidaritet och representation : En analys av artiklar om utsatta arbeterskor i nicaraguanska frihandelszoner
- 2005
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- NICARAGUANSKA PÅ SVENSKA – EN REPRESENTATION AV UTSATTHET?I svensk allmänmedia finns ingen fördjupad bevakning av händelser i kontinenter som Latinamerika och Afrika. Katastrof eller exotism utgör regel snarare än undantag i bilderna från många delar av världen, däribland Nicaragua. När svenska biståndsarbetare tjänstgör i Nicaragua förväntas de förmedla kunskap om landet till Sverige. I artiklar och resebrev artikuleras berättelser om regionen.Biståndsarbetares skildringar av landet handlar i stor utsträckning om att teckna ”fattigdomens ansikten”, ofta i kontrast till Sverige. Att synliggöra och skapa intresse för världens orättvisor är en del av organisationernas mål med informationsarbetet. Men representationer av utsatthet repeterar samtidigt gränser för föreställningar om liv i denna region. I efterföljande paper har jag för avsikt att undersöka (o)möjligheten att skapa alternativa bilder av Nicaragua. En central fråga kommer att vara: Är det görligt att informera om landet till svenska läsare utan att reproducera stereotyper? Texten knyter an till teorier om översättning, identitet och postkolonialitet.
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- Berg, Linda, 1974-
(författare)
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Testimonio and representation : An analysis of articles about women workers in Nicaraguan free trade zones
- 2005
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Ingår i: Politics conference.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The following presentation discusses representation and testimonio in Swedish information on Nicaraguan women workers that has been produced by so called ‘development workers’. In Spanish the word testimonio is literally translated as ‘testimony’, as in the act of testifying or bearing witness in a legal or religious sense. In articles such as “The slave market in Nicaragua is growing” and “Karla – an ordinary robot” the journalist and development worker, Victoria Myrén, translates and mediates stories by women workers in Nicaraguan free trade zones for Swedish speaking readers. The articles express a sense of urgency to communicate experiences of repression and a desire to represent the way marginalized positions are used to legitimate capitalist recolonizing. In an attempt to demonstrate the suffering of women within the free trade zones, the articles position the reader as a jury in a courtroom listening to close descriptions of violations. The story of Karla Manzanares (translated and mediated by Myrén) depicts colonial domination, economic exploitation, sexism and racism.In this paper I argue that by speaking out, re-establishing a ‘voice’, Karla is also re-inscribing a subordinate position in society. The contradictions inherent in the project of representing the subaltern and simultaneously deconstructing the discourses that constitute the subaltern are evident. As Gayatri Spivak has pointed out, the recovery of the ‘voice’ of the subaltern also entails its erasure, since the mode of representation given in testimonio is no longer located in the space of subalternity but is instead more like a ‘ventriloquist’s dummy’.Karla’s written destiny stand for something inhuman happening in a country far away. The image of the tragic woman worker capture our fears. Like a safe place to contain horrible things in the world, she becomes a projection of desire for the solution of insoluble conflicts. These stories about Karla and other women workers are emancipatory actions yet they also act as surfaces of projection for desire, disgust and anger. This paper therefore explores the fine balance between mediating testimonios and reconstructing an image of Nicaraguan woman as the Other, as a negative mirror to the idea of white, western (Swedish) women.
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