Queening/Queering Mexicanidad: Lucha Reyes and the Canción Ranchera

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Sarita Gaytán ◽  
Sergio de la Mora
Keyword(s):  
Cancion Ranchera

scholarly journals Sol, sombra, y media luz

Pragmatics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Haney
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
American Identity ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Cancion Ranchera ◽  
Mexican American Identity

This paper analyzes a parody of the tango “A media luz” that was performed by Rodolfo Garcia, a Mexican American comedian who worked in his family’s tent show, the Carpa Garcia, in the early 1940s. I argue that by juxtaposing the generic conventions of the tango with those of the canción ranchera and by introducing carnivalesque humor, Mr. Garcia’s parody articulated a distinctly local Mexican American identity which was strongly linked to a sense of working-class masculinity. In this way, the parody highlights the class- and gender-based contradictions that were inherent in ongoing processes of Mexican American identity fonnation at mid-century.

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