School of Quilombismo: Gender Euphoria

School of Quilombismo is a roaming programme that embodies and resonates with imaginative, wayward, unorthodox, and self-determined pedagogical and knowledge practices. It manifests annually in different formats—from boat tours to walks, from concerts to film screenings. This year’s edition revolves around the launch of the English and German translation of pedagogue Maria Clara Araújo dos Passos’s book Pedagogias das travestilidades (Pedagogies of travesti liberation). School of Quilombismo highlights key aspects and insights from the book and draws parallels between the political struggles of Brazil’s travesti movement and similar developments in other countries. The title of the programme refers both to the challenges of emancipation processes and to the sense of happiness that comes with finding one’s identity.

The translation of this seminal work into English and German represents a vital endeavour to forge connections between political struggles across different continents, facilitating richer intercultural exchanges of knowledge. It is imperative to acknowledge that the epistemologies underpinning the original text often resist seamless integration into European linguistic frameworks. A salient example of this is the term ‘travesti’, whose nuances elude straightforward translation into Anglophone trans* discourses. Within the publication itself, this critical issue is explored in depth as part of a dialogue between Maria Clara Araújo dos Passos and translator Natalia Affonso. The resulting contribution not only highlights the complexities inherent in such translations but also serves as a resource for navigating the multifaceted dimensions of the books’ discourse across cultures. This dialogue emphasizes the importance of prioritizing shared political agendas over mere linguistic disparities, thereby fostering an inclusive approach to understanding politically charged narratives globally.