Braving All Borders

Collaboratively researched account of TransLatina agency and survival strategies in the face of structural violence

From the shimmering, defiant world of TransLatina beauty pageants to the persistent everyday violence of racism, gender norms, and economic precarity, the testimonios in Braving All Borders offer compelling accounts of survival and self-determination. Drawing from over a decade of ethnographic research and community collaboration, Karla M. Padrón amplifies the experiences of TransLatinas who have endured rejection, violence, and systemic neglect while insisting on life, dignity, and belonging.

At the center of this narrative is a bold argument: that TransLatinas, in sharing their stories and building collective knowledge, enact what Padrón calls decolonial self-authorship. They create their own terms of visibility, knowledge, and power, refusing to let institutions misrepresent or erase them. Their narratives reveal both the thorns of violence and the roses of resilience, humor, and joy.

This powerful, deeply researched account demonstrates how transgender Latina immigrants confront the overlapping borders that shape their lives. It charts how migrant trans women of color forge rhetorical, political, and embodied strategies to claim life, love, and futurity—even when “nothing is made” for them.