The Social Capital of Roxana Hernández: Social Capital of Migrant Transgender Women from Central America to the United States

 

Gorde:
Xehetasun bibliografikoak
Egilea: Villanueva, Cynthia
Formatua: artículo original
Egoera:Versión publicada
Argitaratze data:2026
Deskribapena:This analysis examines the structural disadvantages and severe deficit of social capital faced by transgender migrant women from Central America, using the case of Roxana Hernández as a paradigmatic example. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theories of gender intelligibility and Achille Mbembe’s necropolitics, the argument posits that heteronormative institutions, including the state,religion, and the law, systematically produce transgender subjects as less than human. This dehumanization results in a critical lack of access to the social capital vital for successful migration, which resides in relationships of trust and mutual obligation. Roxana’s journey from Honduras to the United States and her subsequent death in U.S. custody illustrate how trans bodies are exposedto violence and death with impunity. The research employs a testimonial methodology, reconstructing Roxana’s experience from journalistic reports and legal archives to demonstrate how gender nonconformity directly restricts access to resources, safety, and justice, both in life and after death.
Herria:Portal de Revistas UNA
Erakundea:Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas UNA
Hizkuntza:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:www.revistas.una.ac.cr:article/22406
Sarrera elektronikoa:https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/istmica/article/view/22406
Gako-hitza:migration
transgender
social capital
testimonial
Central America
migración
transgénero
capital social
Centroamérica