Translating Transfeminist Activism: The Case of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries)

This chapter examines the translation into Italian of STAR, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, a transfeminist zine published in the United States in 2013, made from a collection of documents, interviews, speeches, and essays regarding radical transgender activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, who were members of the eponymous political collective and who took part in the Stonewall riots. The zine was first translated into Italian in 2020 as an ebook, and then in 2021 in print. The discussion focuses on what prompted the Italian translations, the way in which these were carried out and their performative aspect, that is, their impact on the Italian transfemininst movements. Regarding what prompted the translations, these were motivated by the desire to look at the Anglo-American hegemonic narratives about Stonewall through decolonial lenses, by linking them to the LGBTQ+ Latin American movements, and by pointing at the need to do more research on the lesser-known Italian LGBTQ+ history. Concerning the performative aspect of the translations instead, this can be found in the way the translations stress how the life experiences of Silvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, and their work of mutual aid, are relevant to, and inspirational, for the current Italian transfeminist movements.