Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad, Revista Latinoamericana (Sexuality, Health, and Society, Latin American Journal) has just launched the dossier “CLAM 20 ANOS: memória da formação de um campo de estudos em sexualidade e direitos humanos no Brasil e na América latina”, which was structured around the presentations and debates that took place at the international seminar of the same name, held in June 2024 at the Institute of Social Medicine, UERJ. Both the event and the dossier represent important turning points in the history of gender and sexuality studies in Brazil and Latin America.
The articles that make up the dossier, published in issues 40/2024 and 41/2025 of the journal, revisit the institutional and intellectual trajectory of CLAM, created in the early 2000s, and reflect on the challenges faced by the field of sexuality and gender studies in light of the advance of political conservatism over the last decade.
The publication begins with an article by Sergio Carrara, one of CLAM’s founding researchers, and concludes with an analysis by the Argentine political scientist Mario Pecheny, a long-time partner of the Center. These texts address, respectively, the memory of CLAM’s foundation in the 2000s, as well as the diverse reflections that have been developed over the Center’s twenty years of activity. There is also an article by the Colombian anthropologist Mara Viveros Vigoya, a prominent researcher in the field of studies on gender, sexuality, and race in Latin America. In her text, Vigoya emphasizes CLAM’s role as an important organizer of a wide network of collaborations developed among Latin American researchers.
In addition to these articles, the dossier is organized into three axes that reflect CLAM’s historical lines: ‘Knowledge about Sexuality’ (‘Saberes sobre a Sexualidade’); ‘Sexual Rights and Policies’ (‘Direitos e Políticas Sexuais’); ‘Sexual Culture and Behaviors’ (‘Cultura e Comportamentos Sexuais’).
The first block of articles relates to the theoretical axis ‘Knowledge about Sexuality’ and features articles by researchers Mauro Brigeiro, Fabíola Rohden, and Jaime Barrientos, along with comments by Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte. The second, on ‘Sexual Rights and Policies,’ includes articles by Adriana Vianna, Vanessa Leite, and Silvia Aguião, with comments by Regina Facchini. The third block, ‘Sexual Culture and Behaviors,’ is composed of articles by María Elvira Díaz-Benítez, Franklin Gil Hernández, Laura Moutinho, and Marcos Nascimento, in addition to comments by Maria Filomena Gregori.
*Text adapted from the presentation of the dossier ‘CLAM 20 YEARS: memory of the formation of a field of studies in sexuality and human rights in Brazil and Latin America,’ authored by Claudia Mora, Horacio Sívori, Laura Lowenkron, Jane Russo and Elaine Brandão.
Access the complete dossier here.