“Those Who Are Like That”: Performing Queer Belonging Through P’urhépecha Indigenous Practices of El Costumbre

Abstract: This article analyzes queerness within P’urhépecha communities in Michoacán, México, and the US state of California. It sheds light on how queer P’urhépecha men disrupt the gender-binary organization of the group by participating in the gender-bending Danza de las Maringuías as female characters and by occupying gender roles traditionally assigned to women. P’urhépecha people maintain traditions that honor the agricultural cycle in which cisgender women and men play specific roles, yet tensions emerge when some members challenge the community’s expectations for women and men. Opportunities exist for queer P’urhépechas to reinvent el costumbre of their communities and challenge gender norms. This article argues that queer P’urhépechas weave ways to disrupt gender-binary structures through artistic practices and the use of their bodies as a device of resistance and Indigenous identity .