Dr Patricio Simonetto wins 2026 SLAS Research Development Award
Dr Patricio Simonetto has been awarded the 2026 SLAS Research Development Award for a collaborative project preserving trans and travesti community histories in Argentina.
The Society of Latin American Studies (SLAS) Research Development Award is a prestigious award supporting innovative research projects and impactful collaborations in the field of Latin American Studies. Dr Patricio Simonetto, School of Sociology and Social Policy, has been awarded the 2026 Research Development Award, alongside partners Biblioteca Claudia Pía Baudracco and Victoria Macioci.
The winning project
The project Trans/Travesti Community Archiving and Material Culture in Argentina explores the role of objects in shaping memory, identity and community knowledge among older trans and travesti women.
Working with the Biblioteca Claudia Pía Baudracco’s collection, the research will engage with materials such as clothing, activist artefacts and personal belongings. Through preservation, cataloguing and collaborative curatorial activities, the project centres community-led approaches to documenting lived experiences.
It will also deliver oral history workshops. Transcripts from these sessions will become part of the archive’s permanent collection, strengthening community ownership and intergenerational knowledge-sharing.
Significance of the research
This work is particularly urgent. Many older travesti and trans women in Argentina have outlived their community’s historically low life expectancy, often around 40 years due to social exclusion, and are now seeking to preserve their histories and cultural heritage.
By supporting documentation and analysis of these experiences, the project helps ensure these stories are not lost.
This is an amazing opportunity to collaborate with a community museum and archive grounded in the trans community in Argentina. What gets me really excited is the opportunity of building collective forms of curation and making history grounded in the experiences and lives of trans women, a process in which they have a central role.
A trans rights sash from the museum.
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