Bolivia: Making gays in a queer place. AIDS, modernization, and the politics of sexual identity

Are there gays in Bolivia? Based on participant observation, interview, and archival research conducted during 1504 days of fieldwork in Bolivia between 1993 and 2004, this study concludes that this research question must be answered in the negative. Defining "gay" as a man who sexually desires men and who believes that this sexual orientation makes him the member of a unified (sexual) minority group, this study argues that Bolivian men who erotically desire men are unlikely to understand their personal sexual desire as the constituent element of a fixed, lifelong ontological state and a primary identity.;Nevertheless, most Bolivians living with HIV/AIDS are men who have sex with men, or women who have sex with such men. Since the early 1990s internationally financed public health initiatives aimed at HIV prevention among homosexually active men have been attempted in Bolivia. After three chapters orienting the research, Chapter Four explores how these financers hoped, but failed, to modify the sexual behavior of these men by encouraging gayness as a distinct and compliant sexual identity suited to the fulfillment of public health goals and objectives. Chapter Five investigates how Bolivian men with same-sex desires responded to this initiative.;Faced with minimal participation, public health officials concluded that most of these men were "in the closet," even as a vibrant sexual subculture flourished around them. Chapter Six explores the identity frameworks used by these men to label each other. Chapter Seven describes where, when, and how sexual liaisons between men are established and carried out. It also discusses enduring relationships between them. Chapter Eight discusses the economic logic of "looking like" the imagined figure called el homosexual.;Three chapters look at "the outsider within," meaning competing identities that coexist within individual men with same-sex desires: Chapter Nine explores homosexuality and religion in Bolivia. Chapter Ten considers homosexuality and national identity as "Bolivian-ness" is promoted during obligatory military service. Chapter Eleven looks at sexual identity in the context of the Bolivian family. Chapter Twelve concludes this dissertation by showing how Bolivia's struggle to "develop" and be "modern" without losing its sense of national identity can be meaningfully studied through the lens of sexuality.