Monthly Archives: March 2014

“‘¿Y ahora qué vas a hacer, mulata?’: Hip choreographies in the Mexican cabaretera film Mulata (1954).” by Melissa Blanco Borelli

Posted on March 31, 2014 by racheloriol

Blanco Borelli, Melissa. “‘¿Y ahora qué vas a hacer, mulata?’: Hip choreographies in the Mexican cabaretera film Mulata (1954).” Women & Performance: a Journal of Feminist Theory. 18.3 (2008): 215-233. Summary/Quotes: Blanco Borelli digs into José Piedra’s idea of “Hip … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, celebrity, Cubans, dance, female bodies, film, gender, History, Mexican Americans, sensuality, theory | Leave a comment

“Latina Subjectivity, Sexuality and Sensuality” by Alicia Arrizón

Posted on March 31, 2014 by racheloriol

Arrizón, Alicia. “Latina subjectivity, sexuality and sensuality.” Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. 18.3 (2008): 189-198. Summary/Quotes: This article is the Introduction to a special issue of Women & Performance that focuses on Latina bodies. As Arrizón notes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, celebrity, dance, film, materiality, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican, sensuality, theory | Leave a comment

Iracema by José M. Alencar

Posted on March 24, 2014 by racheloriol

Alencar, José M. Iracema: A Novel. 1865. Trans. Clifford E. Landers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Summary: This is one of three novels Alencar wrote in an effort to create a Brazilian national literature. In this one, Iracema is the … Continue reading →

Posted in AC: Prose, Area of Concentration | Tagged American identity, Brazil, History, Imaginary, indigenismo, love matches, Manifest Destiny, religion | Leave a comment

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Posted on March 23, 2014 by racheloriol

Steinbeck, John. Tortilla Flat. 1935. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Summary/Reaction: This is a set of loose stories about a group of friends who live in the hills, called Tortilla Flat, above Monterrey Bay in California. This area is inhabited … Continue reading →

Posted in AC: Prose, Area of Concentration | Tagged American identity, California, family, History, masculinity, Mexican Americans, Nature, religion | Leave a comment

Peel My Love Like an Onion by Ana Castillo

Posted on March 21, 2014 by racheloriol

Castillo, Ana. Peel My Love Like an Onion. New York: Anchor Books, 1999. Summary: This novel is about Carmen Santos, a Chicana flamenco dancer from Chicago who suffers from post-polio syndrome. Throughout most of the novel, Carmen reflects back on … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose | Tagged American identity, bodies, dance, family, female bodies, History, love matches, materiality, Mexican Americans, physical pain | Leave a comment

Bodies that Matter (Intro) by Judith Butler

Posted on March 19, 2014 by racheloriol

Butler, Judith. “Introduction.” Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge, 1993. 1-23. Summary/Quotes: It seems that Butler is trying to show that both gender and sex are social constructs (and thus regulating ideas) that are materialized … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, gender, materiality, theory | Leave a comment

“Embodying Difference” by Jane C. Desmond

Posted on March 18, 2014 by racheloriol

Desmond, Jane C. “Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies.” Cultural Critique. 26 (1993-1994): 33-63. Summary/Quotes: Not unlike the Susan Leigh Foster article, Jane C. Desmond is calling for more careful attention to the study of dance, particularly how … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, dance, History, inter-textual | Leave a comment

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

Posted on March 17, 2014 by racheloriol

Allende, Isabel. Daughter of Fortune. Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. New York: Perennial, 2000. Summary: This large novel follows primarily Eliza Sommers, the illegitimate daughter of an Englishman sea captain living in Valpariso, and a unknown Chilean woman. Eliza is taken … Continue reading →

Posted in AC: Prose, Area of Concentration | Tagged American identity, California History, Chile, family, female bodies, marriages, migration, travel | Leave a comment

West Side Story (film)

Posted on March 16, 2014 by racheloriol

West Side Story. 1961. Dir. Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Perf. Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno. MGM Home Entertainment, 2003. Summary: This is an adaptation of the Broadway musical by the same name, which is also a remake of Shakespeare’s Romeo … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Film | Tagged American identity, dance, female bodies, film, Puerto Rican | Leave a comment

Questions of Travel by Elizabeth Bishop

Posted on March 12, 2014 by racheloriol

Bishop, Elizabeth. Questions of Travel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965. Summary: This collection contains 11 poems under the title “Brazil,” 8 poems from “Elsewhere,” and 1 short story called “In the Village.” Themes: – travel issues: voyage, new … Continue reading →

Posted in AC: Poems, Area of Concentration | Tagged Brazil, family, History, Nature, travel | Leave a comment