Spanish

Abstract

This study analyzes how university students with sex-gender dissident identities at UADY articulate cultural management strategies through performativity as a form of resistance against institutional exclusion. The research, qualitative in nature and with a narrative approach, was conducted in Mérida, Yucatán, based on in-depth interviews with members of LGBTQA+ student collectives active at the university. Techniques included experience-based accounts and thematic analysis of narratives, with the aim of understanding the symbolic, affective, and political dimensions of their practices.

The results show that performativity is expressed not only in individual acts but also in collective actions that transform the university space. These practices generate support networks, strengthen collective identity, and produce new forms of political incidence from the margins, questioning the institution’s normativity. The testimonies further reveal that activism is traversed by emotions ranging from pride to exhaustion, also integrating self-care as part of resistance.

The main finding is that culture, managed through performativity and collective action, becomes a political tool to re-signify dissident bodies and symbolically dispute university life.