Brazil ETA Christian Flores finishes "Projeta Memoria LGBT — Bagé"

Christian Flores, he/him, 2019 ETA to Brazil

Bagé, Brazil — Fulbright Prism is proud to promote the launch of Projeta Memoria LGBT — Bagé, a memory project undertaken by 2019 Fulbright ETA Christian Flores during his placement in the city of Bagé, in Southern Brazil.

Flores worked with professors and a team of five queer research assistants at the Federal University of Pampa (UNIPAMPA) to compile 30 oral histories from members of Bagé’s LGBTQ community, as well as sourcing queer historical documents for preservation. 

“Initially I was hesitant, as a gay Latino, to be placed in a small, rural, and conservative city,” Flores says, but notes he “quickly discovered that there was a lot of LGBTQ history in Bagé, and a lot of LGBTQ people, contrary to the image of gaucho traditionalism that the region prides itself on.”

Still, Flores says he found that LGBTQ voices “were often silenced or overlooked in the city's history,” and that schisms were also apparent within Bagé’s queer community. The oral histories, he hoped, would help bridge those divides.

Flores worked with a team of professors and queer research assistants to collect 30 oral histories.

“The community’s receptiveness and willingness to invite someone like myself in was something I was pleasantly surprised at,” Flores continues. “It’s difficult to come in as an outsider and tell the stories of people who you otherwise have no connection with [and] we saw a rallying effect among the community to make sure their memories were preserved.” 

To this effect, the Memoria Projeta features conversations with individuals embodying the breadth of LBGTQ representation in Bagé, both in the present day and times past. Included are the stories of DJs and promoters who brought some of the first queer parties to Bagé, as well as queer authors, community leaders, an adult film star and Bagé’s first Miss Gay, crowned in 1950. 

And there is still more to come. “It’s stopped being my project and become their work, that’s one of the beautiful things about the project,” Flores notes of his research assistants, for whom he is currently fundraising for an additional semester’s stipend to afford further interviews and transcriptions.

Projeta Memoria LGBT — Bagé can be viewed online here.