Jovanna Cardoso - Diálogo das Bonecas

1992, Brazil, Jovanna Baby Cardoso da Silva, Jovanna Cardoso, Portuguese,

Original title: "Diálogo das Bonecas" (Dialogue of the Dolls) by Jovanna Baby Cardoso da Silva.

In 1992, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, a groundbreaking book titled Diálogo das Bonecas (Dialogue of the Dolls) emerged as a symbol of resistance, language, and identity. Written by Jovanna Baby Cardoso da Silva, one of Brazil’s most important trans and travesti activists, the book represented far more than a linguistic curiosity. It was the codification of a dialect born on the margins, a language created by travestis to communicate, protect themselves, and affirm their existence in a world that sought to erase them. The work was published by ASTRAL, the Associação de Travestis e Liberados, which was founded in the same year and recognized as the first association of travestis in the world. Both the organization and the book marked the birth of a new era in trans activism, an era in which the community began to name itself and to write its own history.

 

Diálogo das Bonecas was, in essence, the first dictionary of Bajubá, the secret language spoken among travestis, formed through a mixture of Portuguese, Yoruba, and words drawn from Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé. Bajubá was a living archive of survival, humor, and rebellion. It emerged as a linguistic shield, allowing travestis to express themselves freely without fear of persecution or mockery. In a Brazil where being a travesti was often criminalized, this language became an act of coded defiance and solidarity. Jovanna Baby and her collaborators captured this living speech, transforming it into a written document that preserved the culture and ingenuity of a community that was always spoken about but rarely allowed to speak for itself.

 

For decades, however, Diálogo das Bonecas suffered the fate that often befalls the creations of marginalized groups: erasure and appropriation. Several subsequent publications drew from its content, borrowing words and expressions without acknowledging their source. The language of the travestis was celebrated, studied, and quoted, but the names of those who first wrote it down were forgotten. This historical silencing is precisely what Jovanna Baby seeks to confront with the re-edition of her work, now titled Bajubá Odara. The new edition aims to restore authorship, honor the roots of the movement, and remind Brazil that the language of the travestis is a language of resistance that belongs to those who invented it. 

 

The revival of this dictionary is also a symbolic continuation of Jovanna Baby’s lifelong struggle. Her activism began in the 1970s in Vitória, Espírito Santo, when she founded the Associação Damas da Noite after being imprisoned under the now-repealed vagrancy law, known as Article 59 of the Penal Code. The law was frequently used to persecute sex workers and travestis, and Jovanna’s imprisonment became the catalyst for her political awakening. The Damas da Noite was the first organized group of travestis and sex workers to demand respect and recognition. That fight later expanded nationally with the creation of ASTRAL in 1992 and ANTRA, the Articulação Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais, in 1995.

 

ASTRAL was born out of necessity and courage. In the early 1990s, Rio de Janeiro was marked by brutal police violence against travestis, particularly in the Lapa region. Jovanna Baby and a group of six Black travestis, five from the Northeast and one from Rio, decided to organize themselves to confront this reality. Their goals were direct: to reduce police brutality, prevent arbitrary arrests, and ensure that travestis working on the streets had access to basic human rights. From this collective effort came the first National Meeting of Travestis in 1993, which later gave birth to RENATA, the Rede Nacional de Travestis, and eventually to ANTRA.

 

Through these organizations, Jovanna Baby helped build the foundation of Brazil’s modern trans movement. She played a key role in the first Trans March in 1995, which took place in Rio de Janeiro during the Third National Meeting of Travestis. The march gathered more than 250 participants who walked from Candelária to Cinelândia, denouncing violence and demanding dignity. It was a historic event that preceded the first Pride Parade in the city and established a model for public protest by the trans community.

 

Her activism did not stop there. In 2010, she founded FONATRANS, the Fórum Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais Negras e Negros, dedicated to fighting the combined oppressions of racism and transphobia. For Jovanna, the invisibility of Black trans people within even the broader trans rights movement reflected the persistence of white and class privilege. FONATRANS was created to ensure that Black trans voices were not only included but leading the fight. Today, the forum has national and international recognition, representing a crucial voice for intersectional justice.

 

The reissue of Diálogo das Bonecas as Bajubá Odara brings together a new generation of collaborators who share Jovanna’s mission of preserving history while advancing social transformation. Among them are Professor Letícia Carolina from the Federal University of Piauí, trans activist and ANTRA member Bruna Benevides, Professor Edmar Ferreira from GGLOS Picos, and student researcher Caio Mendonça from AMATRA. Their participation underscores how the struggle that began in the streets has entered the halls of academia, transforming knowledge production itself into a political act.

 

Bajubá Odara will not only reintroduce the dictionary but will also include a historical overview of the travesti movement in Brazil. This context is essential, for it reminds readers that language, for the travestis, was never merely a means of communication. It was a tool for survival, a poetic weapon forged in the face of exclusion. Each word in Bajubá carries traces of resistance, sisterhood, and laughter amid adversity. By preserving this lexicon, Jovanna Baby ensures that the voices of those who came before, those who were silenced, criminalized, and forgotten, continue to speak.

 

Jovanna Baby remains a symbol of persistence and pride. She is a living archive of Brazil’s trans history, a woman who transformed persecution into organization and marginalization into authorship. The reedition of Diálogo das Bonecas is not merely the restoration of a forgotten book; it is the restoration of memory itself. It reminds Brazil that the story of its LGBTQIA+ movement was written in the slang of the streets, in the rhythm of the night, and in the courage of travestis who refused to be invisible.

 

Diálogo das Bonecas and its rebirth as Bajubá Odara celebrate the creative, linguistic, and political genius of a community that has always known how to turn pain into poetry. Through Jovanna Baby’s voice and vision, this dictionary becomes a living testimony that to speak one’s own language is to claim one’s right to exist.

Available via xapuri.info

midianinja.org and fonatrans.com

Photos via Instagram