Representation and disidentification in the testimony of a prostitute (Santiago de Chile, 1908)

From the feminist political theory, the present work develops an analysis around the struggle of a popular feminine subject for the power of (self)representation at the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, from the complaint-kept in the National Historical Archive of Chile- of Maria Espinoza against her ex-pimp, we identify and analyze the ploy and the disidentification as "outcast strategies" (Varikas, 2007). Focusing on the hermeneutic potential of these paradoxical political strategies, we develop a reading in contravention of this prostitute's testimony in order to analyze certain marks of the gender historicity that contribute to construct critical genealogies of the legitimate femininity.