BODY-RUPTURE, AUTOETHNOGRAPHY, AND EPISTEMIC DISOBEDIENCE IN THE EXPERIENCES OF A TRANS-TRAVESTI SUBJECT IN ACADEMIA

Abstract

This article, through an autoethnography conducted by the first author, investigates how cisnormativity operates as a normative structure that perpetuates cisgender violence in the academic trajectories of trans-travesti individuals. Anchored in transfeminism and epistemic disobedience, it connects personal experiences to a critique of knowledge hierarchies, fostering plurality and epistemological insurgency. Among the findings, the study highlights the denaturalization of cisgender violence, referred to as “cis-silencing,” and the proposition of an insurgent epistemology that employs autoethnography as a tool for political transformation, challenging exclusionary structures and reaffirming the significance of transfeminist and decolonial epistemologies in academic and social knowledge production.