&quot;No somos ni hombres, ni mujeres.&quot;: An analysis of muxe representation in Mexican tweets on the intersection of postcolonialism and trans linguistics

Previous studies suggested that Spanish colonisers imposed their northern-based beliefs and ideas, including the Christian religion and cisnormativity, on their occupied territories under colonial rule. This thesis aims to determine whether colonial legacies still influence the perceptions among present-day Mexican Twitter users. Specifically, it addresses the ways in which the muxe, a third gender among the Zapotec community, are perceived. To test the hypothesis, 112 tweets, including 37 visual objects, were examined using a mixed-methods approach. All tweets were written in Spanish and published between January 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. The sample (n=112) has been coded and analysed with the software program ATLAS.ti. The results showed that the majority (59.82%) of the authors demonstrated cisnormativity by misgendering the muxe, and little more than one-fifth (20.54%) exercised epistemological colonisation through the misusage of northern-based terminology. Correspondingly,...Show morePrevious studies suggested that Spanish colonisers imposed their northern-based beliefs and ideas, including the Christian religion and cisnormativity, on their occupied territories under colonial rule. This thesis aims to determine whether colonial legacies still influence the perceptions among present-day Mexican Twitter users. Specifically, it addresses the ways in which the muxe, a third gender among the Zapotec community, are perceived. To test the hypothesis, 112 tweets, including 37 visual objects, were examined using a mixed-methods approach. All tweets were written in Spanish and published between January 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. The sample (n=112) has been coded and analysed with the software program ATLAS.ti. The results showed that the majority (59.82%) of the authors demonstrated cisnormativity by misgendering the muxe, and little more than one-fifth (20.54%) exercised epistemological colonisation through the misusage of northern-based terminology. Correspondingly, 40.18% of the authors correctly adopted non-biased muxe descriptions, such as third gender. Interestingly, three of the six videos explicitly touched upon how colonialism altered Mexican attitudes towards the muxe. Considering previous literature, the results of this thesis suggest that colonial legacies affect to some extent the ways in which contemporary Mexican Twitter users perceive muxes as gender identity. However, since the results demonstrated no definitive agreement, no firm conclusion can be drawn about the hypothesis. By applying statistics, further research might be conducted to confirm the significance of these results.Show less

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"No somos ni hombres, ni mujeres." An analysis of muxe representation in Mexican tweets on the intersection of postcolonialism and trans linguistics