Trans* and Gender Non-Conforming Migrant Experiences in South America

Objective

This innovative, multi-methods project investigates how Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) migrants in South America navigate overlapping borders in their pursuit of safety and access to rights. While existing research on trans+ migration often focuses on South-North migration, this study centers South-South mobility, examining the experiences of Paraguayan and Venezuelan TGNC migrants in Brazil, a key destination due to its relatively progressive laws yet persistent violence against LGBTQ+ communities. Drawing on Necropolitics as a theoretical framework, the project interrogates how state and societal practices of exclusion, abandonment, and violence delineate the conditions under which TGNC migrants are allowed to live, or left to die. Through participatory methods, the study documents how TGNC migrants make sense of their journeys across national and gendered borders, how necropolitical violence shapes their mobility and daily lives, and how they sustain care networks despite fractured geographies. By focusing on South-South migration, this research challenges Global North-centric queer mobility studies and offers new frameworks for understanding survival and community-making among marginalised migrants. The project contributes to debates on borders, gender, and agency while amplifying TGNC voices often erased in policy and academia.