Category Archives: Special Topic

“Pollito Chicken” by Ana Lydia Vega

Posted on April 28, 2014 by racheloriol

Vega, Ana Lydia, “Pollito Chicken.” 1977. Vírgenes y mártires. Eds. Ana Lydia Vega and Carmen Lugo Filippi. 5th ed. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Antillana, 1994. 73-80. Summary: This concise short story is about Suzie Bermiúdez, a Nyuorican, who goes … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose | Tagged American identity, bodies, female bodies, Imaginary, inter-textual, love matches, Puerto Rican, sensuality, travel | Leave a comment

“Milk of Amnesia/Leche de amnesia” by Carmelita Tropicana

Posted on April 27, 2014 by racheloriol

Tropicana, Carmelita. “Milk of Amnesia/Leche de amnesia.” O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance. New York: Grove Press, 1998. 19-48. Summary/Analysis: This performance piece is about the immigrant’s attempt to recover memory through a return trip to the home country. Carmelita … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose | Tagged American identity, bodies, Cubans, female bodies, gender, migration, travel | Leave a comment

Real Women Have Curves by Josefina López

Posted on April 26, 2014 by racheloriol

López, Josefina. Real Women Have Curves. 1996. Alexander Street Press, 2013. Electronic Book. Summary: This play takes place over a week in September in 1987, in the sewing factory of Estela, the 24 year old undocumented owner. Not unlike Fornés’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose | Tagged American identity, bodies, California, female bodies, marriages, Mexican Americans, sensuality | Leave a comment

“Shifting Apollo’s Frame: Challenging the Body Aesthetic in Theatre Dance” by Owen Smith

Posted on April 26, 2014 by racheloriol

Smith, Owen. “Shifting Apollo’s Frame: Challenging the Body Aesthetic in Theatre Dance.” Bodies in Commotion: Disability & Performance. Eds. Carrie Sandahl and Philip Auslander. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. 73-85. Summary/Analysis: Owen Smith uses the British dance company, CandoCo, … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, dance, dance history | Leave a comment

Fefu and Her Friends by María I. Fornés

Posted on April 25, 2014 by racheloriol

Fornés, María I. Fefu and Her Friends: A Play. 1977. New York: PAJ Publications, 1990. Summary: This play takes place in a 1930s New England farmhouse, with eight women characters who gather to practice a presentation for an educational charity. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose | Tagged bodies, female bodies, gender, Imaginary, marriages | Leave a comment

“Lupe Vélez: Queen of the B’s” by Rosa Linda Fregoso

Posted on April 25, 2014 by racheloriol

Fregoso, Rosa Linda. “Lupe Vélez: Queen of the B’s.” From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture. Ed. Myra Mendible. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007. 51-68. Summary/Analysis: Rosa Linda Fregoso’s article on Lupe Vélez attempts … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, California, celebrity, female bodies, film, marriages, Mexican Americans, sensuality | Leave a comment

Salsa Crossings: Dancing Latinidad in Los Angeles by Cindy García

Posted on April 23, 2014 by racheloriol

García, Cindy. Salsa Crossings: Dancing Latinidad in Los Angeles. Durham, Duke University Press, 2013. Context: Cindy García writes a unique ethnography and analysis of the Los Angeles salsa scene in the early 2000s. She is currently a scholar of theatre arts … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged bodies, Cubans, dance, dance history, female bodies, Imaginary, love matches, materiality, Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican, theory | Leave a comment

How to do Things with Words by J.L. Austin

Posted on April 23, 2014 by racheloriol

Austin, J.L. How to Do Things with Words. 1962. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. Summary: Austin’s series of 12 lectures at Harvard in 1955 makes the argument that words can have a performative function beyond the denotative meanings. It seems that … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Theory | Tagged inter-textual, meta-text, theory | Leave a comment

Heroes and Saints & Other Plays by Cherríe Moraga

Posted on April 22, 2014 by racheloriol

Moraga, Cherríe. Heroes and Saints & Other Plays. Albuquerque: West End Press, 1994. Summary: This collection contains three plays: “Giving Up the Ghost,” “Shadow of a Man,” and “Heroes and Saints.” “Giving up the Ghost” is interesting because it shifts … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged bodies, drama, family, female bodies, gender, Mexican Americans, religion, sensuality | Leave a comment

Weekend in Havana (1941)

Posted on April 14, 2014 by racheloriol

Weekend in Havana. Dir. Walter Lang. Perf. Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, John Payne. Twentieth Century Fox Film, 1941. Summary: A cruise ship runs aground and in order to avoid lawsuits, the company sends Jay (Payne) to get releases from everyone. … Continue reading →

Posted in Special Topic, ST: Film | Tagged bodies, Brazil, celebrity, dance, female bodies, love matches, marriages, masculinity, sensuality, travel | Leave a comment