bolivian lucha libre
gender, indigeneity, performance, and globalization
My current project explores textures of indigeneity, gender, and global media circuits in impacting professional wrestling in La Paz, Bolivia. Specifically, I look at the “cholitas luchadoras”—female wrestlers who dress in traditional chola attire while performing, and their male colleagues who wear spandex costumes similar to those of exhibition wrestlers around the world. Given the exoticization of indigenous women and the fact that they are often positioned as symbols of the nation, it is not surprising that the cholitas luchadoras have become popular among both Bolivians and foreign tourists. In referencing the social capital of the indigenous woman, they advance their own social standings, develop international mobility, increase potential for economic gain, and thus access certain forms of cosmopolitanism. However, male luchadores sometimes accuse the cholitas luchadoras of using gimmicks which contribute to a subpar international reputation for Bolivian lucha libre. Within this context, notions of authenticity emerge as important sites of conflict and gendered tensions between legitimacy of sport and economic gains arise. This dissertation draws on ethnographic research I conducted between 2009 and 2012. Through semi-structured interviews, performance analysis, and participation as a wrestler, I explore the articulation of nation, locality, authenticity, indigeneity, and globalization as experienced and produced by luchadores in Bolivia.
click the title above to see more on this project
click the title above to see more on this project
social media in northern chile
|
|
|
Order or download the free pdf of
SOCIAL MEDIA IN NORTHERN CHILE |
Order or download the free pdf of
HOW THE WORLD CHANGED SOCIAL MEDIA |
My first book, Social Media in Northern Chile: Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary was published in 2016 by UCL Press. This project concentrates on digital media as a discursive sight for instantiating individual and collective notions of identity, as well as potentials for mitigating or reinforcing social inequalities. In this project I worked with both University College London's Centre for Digital Anthropology and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile's Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research, with funding from the European Research Council and Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research. On this page, you'll find video, photography, links to my book and more articles related to this project. I also collaborated with the Global Social Media Impact Study to publish How the World Changed Social Media (2016, UCL Press).
click on the title above to see more about this project
click on the title above to see more about this project
This project also included a series of nine short ethnographic films, now available on YouTube
lady blade
As part of my dissertation research, I trained and performed as a luchadora with the group, Super Catch. My character, Lady Blade, highlighted my North American heritage and represented a form of global cosmopolitanism. My participation inluded training for ten months, making twenty television appearances, and wrestling in four events. An article exploring my autoethnographic methods is currently being prepared for Public Culture. More information, photos, and video can be found on my Lady Blade Web Page. Also, see me featured on the Lucha Libre Boliviana Blog.
buttering her up: class and gender in midwestern butter sculpture
Since the early 1900s when butter was first sculpted to display the dairy prosperity of Midwestern states at annual State Fairs, butter art has had a localized but strong base of enthusiasts. For many, butter sculpture and carving are sources of pride for agricultural ways of life and the nostalgia they represent. However, as agriculture in the United States increasingly moves away from family farms to industrialized ag complexes, these forms of art take on new symbolic meaning in considering the future, and realism becomes simulacrous.
Particularly in Minnesota, where contestants for the annual Dairy Princess contest, "Princess Kay of the Milky Way," have their likeness carved from butter, the confluence of tradition and nostalgic pride with femininity and at times reproductive capability is evident. Here, I explore how artistic representation in butter may simultaneously call attention to the unfortunate proliferation of industrialized farming while reaffirming the patriarchal and capitalist ideologies which have supported the demise of family farms.
See my guest post about butter sculpture on the Food Culture Index blog
Particularly in Minnesota, where contestants for the annual Dairy Princess contest, "Princess Kay of the Milky Way," have their likeness carved from butter, the confluence of tradition and nostalgic pride with femininity and at times reproductive capability is evident. Here, I explore how artistic representation in butter may simultaneously call attention to the unfortunate proliferation of industrialized farming while reaffirming the patriarchal and capitalist ideologies which have supported the demise of family farms.
See my guest post about butter sculpture on the Food Culture Index blog
picturing pain: the performance of masculinity in pictures of injury
Masculine bodies in contemporary North Atlantic areas are expected to be strong, resistant to dysfunction, bounded, and individual (Sheldon 2002:16). Clearly, painful experiences and injuries may create a lapse in such conceptions of the masculine body. However, claiming a sense of control over pain is often treated heroically in athletics, advertising, and other forms of media. By displaying pictures of injuries, pain is positioned as insufficient to affect the individual, able to be resisted, or simply a difficulty of life which has been endured. Thus a sense of pride in the ability to withstand and overcome the effects of pain is communicated.
The practice of using the Internet to display pictures of bodily injuries to both friends and strangers draws on these understood associations, whether consciously or unconsciously, in order to perform gender online. Though both men and women use images in similar ways, divorcing "masculinity" from a specifically "male" context allows an understanding of the ways masculine ideas of strength and toughness may be appropriated by women, while still reinforcing normative gender ideologies and the privileged status of masculinity even in the current moment.
The practice of using the Internet to display pictures of bodily injuries to both friends and strangers draws on these understood associations, whether consciously or unconsciously, in order to perform gender online. Though both men and women use images in similar ways, divorcing "masculinity" from a specifically "male" context allows an understanding of the ways masculine ideas of strength and toughness may be appropriated by women, while still reinforcing normative gender ideologies and the privileged status of masculinity even in the current moment.
mediating midwifery
My undergraduate honors thesis explored treatments of fear and pain in media portrayals of homebirth. Using ethnographic research methods with midwives and mothers choosing homebirth in Chicago, as well as examining mainstream writings on homebirth in news media and popular literature, the research culminated in both a written academic thesis, as well as a theatrical performance based on interviews and archival research, presented at 2003 at Northwester University's annual Spare Rib Performance Festival.
flores: unseen and unheard washington, dc
This is a short documentary produced with American University's Center for Social Media. It focuses on Mario Flores, a young Salvadoran man who grew up in the Columbia Heights neighborhood Washington, DC and channelled his energy toward the boxing ring. It briefly explores the structural violences behind his youthful missteps, and the ways boxing has provided an outlet for his energy. The film was shot as Flores made his transition from amateur to professional boxer.
