Historicising Gender and Sexual Diversity in the Spanish Colonial Philippines (1565-1898) – CANCELLED

Presenter: Kiel Ramos Suarez
Time: 17 March 2022, 15:00 – 17:00 CET
The event is cancelled because of the ongoing eviction of the house of the organizer.

In this working group event, Kiel Ramos Suarez presents a study aiming to broaden our understanding of the long historical processes of stigmatisation which continue to impact the narratives and lives of Filipino/a/x LGBTIQ communities today.

Her doctoral project primarily deals with the history of policing and stigmatisation of gender and sexual diversity in the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule (1565-1898). Firstly, it aims to provide an in-depth analysis of early Spanish colonial texts which discuss the supposed deviance of the bayoguin, asog and babaylan – indigenous names for gender-crossing spiritual and medical healers in ancient Filipino societies. Secondly, it seeks to further examine how Spanish colonial sources have racialised and sexualised the Chinese (los sangleyes) in Philippine colonial society by associating them with the nefarious sin / sodomy (pecando nefando). Lastly, it aims to analyse confessional manuals (confesionarios) produced during the Spanish colonial era which discursively regulated indigenous gender non-conformity and same-sexual activity. Through rigorous research in selected colonial archival centers in Spain, Rome, and the Philippines, this study aims to broaden our understanding of the long historical processes of stigmatisation which continue to impact the narratives and lives of Filipino/a/x LGBTIQ communities today.

Kiel Ramos Suarez (kyel, she/they) is an aspiring researcher specialising in history, gender and sexuality studies (LGBTIQ studies) in Southeast Asia. She is a PhD student in History at Linnaeus University, Sweden and a member of the Center for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies. She is currently a visiting fellow at the Department of Gender Studies at Lund University and a former visiting fellow at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, Germany.