A N T H R O P O L O G Y & P H O TO G R A P H Y

2010 2016

M A L Y S S E , T H E A N T H R O P O L O G I S T -T R A N S V E S T I T E

e d ited by Ca co N eves
A N T H R O P O L O G Y & P H O TO G R A P H Y

2010 2016

Leaving his own self, the anthropologist glances the possibility of being
an Other, transgressing the limits of identity and turning out to be, just for
a moment, another human being There is for sure something exciting
about that practice that plays within the frontiers of Identity and Alterity,
as you can experience in acting, possession or even in anthropophagy
Released from his own culture and identity, the anthropologist becomes
multicultural as a post colonial Zelig ...

D.BERLINER, 2012

M A L Y S S E , T H E A N T H R O P O L O G I S T-T R A N S V E S T I T E
 S U M R I O

FRICA SIA AMRICA ORIENTE

p.08 p.16 p.20 p.32
 Antropometria
Antropometria (do grego , transl. anthropos, homem, e , transl. metron, medida)
o conjunto de tcnicas utilizadas para medir o corpo humano ou suas partes

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 frica

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 frica

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frica

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 frica

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 sia

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 sia

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 Amrica

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 Amrica

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 Amrica

24 25
Amrica

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 Amrica

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 Amrica

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 Oriente

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 Oriente

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MALYSSE, O ANTROPLOGO-TRAVESTI

1 Pt

Afastando-se de sua prpria identidade, o antroplogo vislumbra a possibili-

dade de ser um Outro e realizar, mesmo que de forma temporria e fragmenta-
da, o projeto de Rimbaud Eu sou um Outro , transgredindo assim os limites
da afirmao de si. Encontraremos certamente nesse deslocamento da identi-
dade algo de excitante... Como em muitas prticas que jogam com o desloca-
mento vertiginoso entre identidade e alteridade: o jogo do ator, a antropofagia
(na qual se opera uma absoro da identidade do outro como elemento for-
talecedor) ou tambm a performance queer do travesti. Muitas vezes, a partici-
pao constitui um exerccio de criao de uma identidade temporria

D.BERLINER, o desejo de participao, 2012

O antroplogo travesti um projeto
artstico que nasce de minha prtica
como antroplogo. Comecei a colecionar
roupas tnicas em uma viagem ao Peru em
2010, numa espcie de extenso de meu
trabalho como professor de antropologia
da Universidade de So Paulo e do curso de
etnografia txtil, que tratava dos aspectos
culturais da vestimenta, olhando para as
modas no-ocidentais desde uma vertente
etnogrfica. Foi diante destas modas de
alhures exticas e acessveis, estranhas
e vestveis que me ocorreu me trasvestir;
me tornar um travesti transcultural.
Ainda que no Brasil o termo remeta figu-
ra estereotipada do homem que se veste de
mulher, travesti , a rigor, algum que se
fantasia. Composto pelo prefixo latino trav
(deslocar) e pelo radical de vestimenta,
designa a usurpao de uma identidade
pelo uso de um traje que no corresponde
s funes sociais ou ao gnero de quem o
veste. Nesta operao, eu, o antroplogo,
me fantasio das pessoas que estudo; us-
ando vestimentas, maquiagem e fotogra-
fia, usurpo uma identidade visual e crio
aparncias bi-culturais que no correspon-
dem minha funo social, origem tnica
ou gnero.
Mais: ao entrar na vestimenta/pele do
Outro, realizo a grande fantasia terica
do antroplogo, ao mesmo tempo em
que transformo o sujeito antroplogo em
objeto tnico, o observador em observa-
do. Desta operao, que escapa da esfera
do acadmico e rompe a fronteira entre
antropologia e arte, nasce um projeto de
antropologia visual e material composto
por uma srie de auto-retratos bi-culturais
nos quais minha identidade de antroplo-
go francs se dilui na aparncia extica
e transformadora dos Outros. Do ndio
peruano de Martin Chambi s gueixas
japonesas, do guerreiro massai ao judeu
ortodoxo, representantes de mais de trinta
etnias e tipos regionais clssicos se fazem
presentes nas imagens, inspiradas tanto
na fotografia etnogrfica do sculo 20
quanto na fotografia do Outro e na obra de
Cindy Sherman em particular.
Como em uma reencarnao fotogrfica,
o ritual de se trasvestir em Outro coloca
em evidncia as armadilhas das aparn-
cias, aquelas que permitem, justamente,
transgredir os limites da identidade bi-
olgica: o hbito faz o Outro. Se os clones
tnicos que crio servindo-me de recursos
contemporneos de produo de imagem
no respeitam minha etnia, gnero ou de Arte e Antropologia, o artista transfor-
fisionomia, tampouco escondem minha
identidade de antroplogo. Na esquizof-
renia cultural e pessoal que se produz
assim, procuro contaminar o material
etnogrfico com meus encontros tnicos.
Ou, como diz Aby Warburg, produzir uma
auto-anlise travestida de encontro com o
Outro, ela mesma matria dupla, reflexiva,
extica.
Algumas teorias reflexivas e metodolgicas
alimentam essa experincia trans-tnica.
Como a imagem do antroplogo como
homem-camaleo cultural cuja identidade
se transforma no contato com outras iden-
tidades, de Berliner, para quem partici-
par da vida dos outros, nas pesquisas de
campo, tambm brincar de ser uma outra
pessoa, at s vezes sair de si mesmo. Ao
entrar temporariamente na pele destes
personagens, minha inteno tambm
mostrar que, apesar de bi-cultural
(Tedlock, 2003), o antroplogo nunca
muda de guarda-roupa diante da realidade
alheia. Ao mostrar que um antroplogo
francs pode ser ao mesmo tempo um
guerreiro massai, uma peruana de Cuzco
ou um ndio ashaninka, minha inteno
trabalhar o multiculturalismo de forma
autobiogrfica e insistir sobre o fato de
que as aparncias so produes culturais
e, portanto, relativas. Humanista e irnico,
O antroplogo-travesti trata da possibili-
dade de fazer arte com antropologia, ao
demonstrar que podemos mudar de etnia
como trocamos de roupa.
Neste projeto indito, ao mesmo tempo
ma-se em antroplogo-travesti atravs da
produo de mais de 60 autorretratos, de
tipos e tamanhos variados, que constituem
uma coleo etnogrfica parte, sendo
que toda a diversidade tnica incorpora-
da por uma s pessoa: o antroplogo-artis-
ta. Profundamente romntico e nostlgico,
esse projeto conta tambm a historia de
um antroplogo que perdeu suas tribos
prediletas e que tenta, como ele pode, res-
suscitar os personagens que povoam sua
imaginao antropolgica...
Stphane Malysse
Edio de Tete Martinho
MALYSSE, LANTHROPOLOGUE-TRAVESTI MALYSSE, THE ANTHROPOLOGIST-TRANSVESTITE

2 Fr 3 En

Se dessaisissant de lui-mme, le je de lanthropologue entrevoit la possibilit de
devenir autre, de transgresser les limites de laffirmation identitaire et de raliser,
provisoirement, et de manire fragmentaire, le je est un autre de Rimbaud.
Certainement y-a-t-il dans ce dplacement identitaire quelque chose de gri-
sant Comme dans ces pratiques qui jouent, elles aussi, sur le dplacement
vertigineux entre lidentit et laltrit: le jeu de lacteur,lcriture mais aussi la
possession, lanthropophagie ou encore lexprience queer du travesti Sou-
lag de ne plus tre riv lui-mme, lanthropologue devient pluriculturel
D.BERLINER, le dsir de participation, 2012
Leaving his own self, the anthropologist glances the possibility of being an
Other, transgressing the limits of identity and turning out to be, just for a
moment, another human being There is for sure something exciting about
that practice that plays within the frontiers of Identity and Alterity, as you can
experience in acting, possession or even in anthropophagy Released from his
own culture and identity, the anthropologist becomes multicultural as a post
colonial Zelig ...
D.BERLINER, 2012

Lanthropologue-travesti est un projet artis-
tique qui est n de ma pratique danthro-
pologue: jai commenc collectionner
des vtements ethniques lors dun voyage
au Prou en 2010, dans une sorte dexten-
sion de mon travail comme professeur
dAnthropologie lUniversit de Sao
Paulo, je travaillais sur les aspects culturels
des vtements non-occidentaux Devant
ces autres modes exotiques et trangres
jai dcid de les essayer, me travestir de
faon temporaire et de devenir ainsi un
travesti transculturel, premier anthropo-
logue-travesti en son genre
Si le terme travesti renvoi souvent
la figure strotype de lhomme qui
shabille en femme, le travesti est aussi
celui qui se dguise. Compos du prfixe
trav (dplacer) et de vesti (vtements),
le travestissement dsigne lusurpation
didentit par lusage de vtements qui ne
correspondent pas la fonction sociale ou
au genre de celui qui les porte. Dans mon
cas spcifique, lanthropologue shabille
avec les vtements de ceux quil tudie et,
avec laide du maquillage et des recours
de la photographie, je cre des apparences
biculturelles qui ne correspondent ni ma
fonction sociale, ni mon origine ethnique
et pas toujours mon genre.
En entrant dans la peau de lAutre, travers
ses vtements, je ralise lun des grands
fantasmes de lAnthropologue: entrer dans
la vie de lautre afin de mieux lobserver Je
transforme le sujet-anthropologue en ob-
jet-tudi, lobservateur en observ, lanthro-
pologue en travesti dobjet/sujet dtude.
Par cette opration, qui rompt les fron-
tires acadmiques entre lAnthropologie
et lArt Contemporain, un projet danthro-
pologie et photographie est n. Comme
dans une recherche de terrain en Anthro-
pologie Visuelle (2010/2016) jai compos
et incorpor des personnages que javais
tudi, que jaurais voulu tudier ou qui
hantaient, comme des fantmes, mon
imagination anthropologique. Dans cette
srie dautoportraits, de lindien pruvien
au massai-marra, du juif orthodoxe au
marquis libertin, je visite et interprte plus
de trente ethnies des plus exotiques aux
plus familires
Entre photographie ethnographique et au-
toportraits danthropologue, comme dans
une rincarnation photographique, le rituel
de se travestir met en vidence les subter-
fuges de lapparence photographie, ceux
qui permettent notamment de transgress-
er les limites de lidentit biologique pour
se transmuter en un Autre soi, un alter-ego
ethnique. Dans ce clonage ethnique, je
deviens autre tout en restant moi-mme
Dans une schizophrnie culturelle, je
cherche contaminer mon matriel
ethnographique et mes rencontres sur le
terrain de toute ma subjectivit ou comme
le dit si bien Aby Warburg, produire une
auto-analyse travestie en une rencontre
de lAutre, elle-mme double, rflexive et
exotique
De nombreuses thories anthropologiques
alimentent cette exprience transcul-
turelle. Comme par exemple limage dun
anthropologue camlon culturel dont
lidentit se transforme au contact des The anthropologist-transvestite (2010- ample, in India some male devotees of the to make theses Ethnographic ghosts alive
nouvelles identits tudies (Berliner, 2016) is an art project that is intimately as- Hindu god Krishna, dress in female attire again, like for example when I decided to
2012) ou bien pour qui participer la vie sociated to my practice as an anthropolo- to pose as his consort, the goddess Radha, create Malysnowski, interpreting Ma-
des Autres, cest aussi jouer tre un Autre gist. I have been collecting ethnic clothing as an act of devotion. In Italy, the Neapol- linowski entering his field of research
et parfois sortir de soi-mme En entrant and other items of what we call material itan femminielli (feminine males) wear
dans le corps (et lesprit) de ces person- culture ever since I began teaching textile wedding dresses, called the matrimonio dei Between ethnographic photography and
nages ethnographiques, lanthropologue ethnography at the University of So Paulo femminielli (marriage of the femminielli), contemporary self-portraits, the ritual of
devient une chimre, un tre bi-cultural (USP/ BRAZIL). By studying different ways and a procession takes place through the becoming another, of looking through the
(Tedlock, 2003). En travaillant le multicul- of dressing and being exotic, I have quickly streets, a tradition that apparently has eyes of someone else, allow me to expose
turalisme de forme autobiographique, tout felt the urge to go native and to break the pagan origins. Even if the term is generally every limit of biological identity. In these
en insistant sur la nature et la relativit anthropological taboo of becoming the used to describe persons who habitually ethnic cloning, this cultural squizophre-
des apparences humaines, lanthropo- Other. By temporarily entering others and voluntarily wore clothes of the oppo- nia, I look forward to produce, as Aby
logue-travesti montre que lont peut faire appearances, I have become a transcul- site sex, we can also find that the meaning Warburg said, a self-analysis transformed
de lanthropologie comme on fait de lart, tural transvestite; the first anthropologist of the word transvestite simply describes and transvestited by the encounter with the
comme on peut changer dethnie en chan- of a new category; a kind of postcolonial someone who uses clothes that do not Other, as such double, reflexive and ambig-
geant de vtements. cultural chameleon belong to their social category or cultural uous.
identity... The possibilities of transvestism
Dans ce projet indit dArt et Anthropol- Appearance confronts the theme of ambi- expands generously if we look carefully at Many anthropological theories and meth-
ogie, lartiste se transforme en lanthro- guity and transgression with the lightness the work of artists such as Wilheim Von odologies feed this genuine transcultural
pologue-travesti au travers de plus de of irony and play, denoting a fascinating Gloeden, Pierre Loti, Claude Cahun or experience: To enter someone elses head
soixante-dix photographies, de types et perspective for the collaboration of Art and Cindy Sherman... and to think as this Other in order to best
dimensions varies, qui semblent con- Anthropology during this new millenni- inquire about his/her exotic mind Going
stituer une collection de photographie um. Disguises, masks, ironic self-portraits, In my case, as a real transcultural native at the price of loosing ones own
ethnographique ralise, par faute de false pretenses, scientific fiction, deceptive cross-dressing experience, the anthropolo- identity Experimenting a new identity
personnel, avec la seule apparence de lan- perception, and the manipulation of reali- gist is dressed as the people he is supposed by contact with another culture Going
thropologue. Profondment romantique ty are deceitful transgressions that deform to study. That way, I have created bicultural Wild In this inverted acculturation, many
et nostalgique, cest aussi lhistoire dun reality in order to escape the traditional appearances that transcend not only my times, the anthropologist plays along with
anthropologue qui a perdu tous ces sujets rules of representation in Anthropology gender, but also my own ethnical origin autobiography, acting and performing
dtudes et qui les fait revivre comme il and Contemporary Art. and my social function as an anthropolo- the Self. By entering the body (and soul) of
peut, avec sa propre image, un peu comme gist. The subject-anthropologist and the several ethnographic types that I studied,
dans une exposition ethnographique Magnus Hisrschfield coined the word Object- studied become the same person and by working on multiculturalism as an
dans laquelle un seul homme incarne transvestism (from Latin trans-, across, through a successive process of embod- autobiography, I have attempted to insist
lui seul toute la diversit humaine et met over and vestitus, dressed) to refer iment. Through this singular operation, on the relativity of human appearances,
fin au mythe des races. Dans ce clonage to the sexual interest in cross-dressing, as in a visual anthropology fieldwork, Ive showing that the concept of race and
ethnique, je deviens autre tout en restant but the term quickly escaped his own composed and incorporated more then type are no longer possible now that the
moi-mme definition and describes a large range of 30 ethnographic characters I would have anthropologist-transvestite exists among
practices and behaviors. In some cultures, studied as if acculturation and cultural us
transvestism is practiced for religious, globalization were just a dream Instead,
traditional, or ceremonial reasons. For ex- I have chosen, as romantic compensation,
A sicilian boy cross-dressing as a spanish woman An african muslin woman An american indian woman

En transformant le Je est un Autre de Rimbaud, en un je suis les Autres,

L anthropologue-travesti se transforme en un Zelig post-colonial, comme
dans la comdie de Woody Allen o le personnage principal est celui dun
homme-camlon dont lidentit se transforme au contact dautres
identits (il devient gros parmi les obses, nazi en prsence de Nazis, noir
avec des Noirs)

Stphane MALYSSE

CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHY: Paulo WATANABE & Thiago BORBA & Paulo OTERO

MAKE-UP ART: Gil OLIVEIRA

STYLING: Nilva CAMPEDELLI

TRIBAL: Christian HEYMES

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Caco NEVES