Transindigenous Affinities: Gender, Indigeneity, and Objects in Mexicana and Chicana Performance

253 Pages·2016·15.71 MB·English

UCLA
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Transindigenous Affinities: Gender, Indigeneity, and Objects in Mexicana and Chicana
Performance
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/54969331
Author
Martinez-Vu, Yvette
Publication Date
2016

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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University of California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles

Transindigenous Materialities:
Gender, Indigeneity, and Objects
in Mexicana and Chicana Performance

A dissertation in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in Theater and Performance Studies

by

Yvette Martínez-Vu

2016
© Copyright by
Yvette Martínez-Vu
2016
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Transindigenous Affinities:
Gender, Indigeneity, and Objects
in Mexicana and Chicana Performance

by

Yvette Martínez-Vu
Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies
University of California, Los Angeles, 2016
Professor Sean Aaron Metzger, Chair

This dissertation addresses issues of gender and indigeneity through an analysis of
ceremonial and quotidian objects used within contemporary Mexicana and Chicana
performances. Performances by women residing on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border—
specifically works by artists Jesusa Rodríguez, Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya (FOMMA), Cherríe
Moraga, and Paulina Sahagun— draw on embodied forms of knowledge to resignify myths,
record testimonies, construct forms of female solidarity, and demonstrate lateral connections
among oppressed populations. This project posits the concept of transindigenous materialities as
the shared though distinct ways that Mexicana and Chicana performances tactically use material
items, which have indigenous markers, in ways that strengthen female agency. In contrast to
other work that focuses on objects in more static environments like museums or archives, this
project centers on the study of objects used in performance since a reading of objects as
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stationary risks relegating indigenous cultures to the past and European cultures to the present.
This dissertation focuses on performances that rely on objects to stage dynamic relationships
between objects and subjects.

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The dissertation of Yvette Martínez-Vu is approved.
Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Chon A. Noriega
Sue-Ellen Case
Sean Aaron Metzger, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles
2016

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Para mi mamá Rosaura, mi pareja Joshua, mi hijo Emiliano, mi familia,
y todos mis antepasados

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... ix
Vita ................................................................................................................................................ xii
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter One: An Object of Resistance: Gender Performance in Maya Mexican Theater ........... 37
Chapter Two: Indigenous and Queer Archetypes: Coatlicue Representations in Jesusa
Rodríguez’s Political Performance ............................................................................................... 87
Chapter Three: Im(Prop)er Approaches to Mexican Motherhood Myths: An Analysis of Corn
and Masks in the Theater Productions of Cherríe Moraga and Paulina Sahagun ....................... 135
Chapter Four: Intimate Acts of Healing: Surrogate Glass Candles in U.S. Botánicas ............... 183

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LIST OF FIGURES

Chapter One
Figure 1.1 Scene with Chepe and Pascu in front of backdrop from “El dueño de las
mariposas,” 2009…………………………..………………………………………40
Figure 1.2 Scene with Chepe in front and Pascu behind backdrop from “El dueño de las
mariposas,” 2009.…………………………………..……………………………...40
Figure 1.3 Backdrop in “Solo crecí con el amor de mi madre,” 2011………………………53
Figure 1.4 Petrona de la Cruz Cruz in “Dulces y amargos sueños,” 2013……………………72
Figure 1.5 Image of FOMMA’s three-tier stage, 2011……………………………………....76
Figure 1.6 View of ground area from FOMMA’s stage, 2011……………………………….76
Figure 1.7 Image of “Buscando nuevos caminos,” 2011……………………………………...77
Figure 1.8 Francisca Oceguera Cruz (right) in “Buscando nuevos caminos,” 2011.…………78
Figure 1.9 Francisca Oceguera Cruz (far right) in “Buscando nuevos caminos,” 2011.……...78
Chapter Four
Figure 4.1 Rows of religious, syncretic and multicolored candles, 2012…...…………….…190
Figure 4.2 Our Lady of Charity Statue, 2012………………………………………………..208
Figure 4.3 Saint Death Shrine, 2012…………………………………………………………213
Figure 4.4 Candles, oils, and and pencil writing on brown paper, 2012……..…………...…216
Figure 4.5 Candle preparation in Rosi’s botánica, 2012…………………………………….216
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Figure 4.6 Bath herbs displayed on a wall, 2012………………………………………….…220
Figure 4.7 Vitrine with scented oils, 2012…………………………………………………...221
Figure 4.8 “You’ll Be Mine Only” candle, 2014………………………………………….…222
Figure 4.9 “Domination” candle, 2014………………………………………………………223
Figure 4.10 “Seven African Powers” candle with image of Olofi deity, 2014……………….227
Figure 4.11 “Seven African Powers” candle with medallion image of Saint Barbara, 2014…228

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