From dramas to reality TV to advertising, quinceaneras are familiar across mainstream media in the United States. The celebration event for fifteen-year-old girls has evolved over time and today is immersed in gender politics and consumer culture while speaking to Latina/o/x assertions of culture, belonging, tradition, and assimilation. Jillian M. Baez, Diana Leon-Boys, and Angharad N. Valdivia edit a collection that draws on the expanding field of girlhood studies to examine the increasing visibility of the event and the figure of the quinceanera herself in pop culture. The contributors focus on quinceaneras as a trope for English-language media's treatment of Latina girlhoods and Latinx cultures but also examine how use of the quinceanera charts deepening openness and inclusivity within Latinx culture. Timely and thought-provoking, Quinceaneras provides an interdisciplinary exploration of a celebration and its central figure within studies of Latina/o/x identity, race, class, gender, and sexuality. Contributors: Sonya M. Aleman, Jillian M. Baez, Ariana A. Cano, Dolores Ines Casillas, Mari Castaneda, Michael Anthony DeAnda, Kelly Ferguson, Litzy Galarza, Rachel Gonzalez-Martin, Jillian Hernandez, Karla Larranaga, Diana Leon-Boys, Stephanie Melissa Perez, Angharad N. Valdivia, and Claudia Evans-Zepeda
Jillian M. Baez is a professor of Africana, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Hunter College. She is the author of In Search of Belonging: Latinas, Media, and Citizenship. Diana Leon-Boys is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney's Flexible Latina Girl. Angharad N. Valdivia is Emerita Research Professor at the Institute of Communications Research and the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Table of Contents Introduction Jillian M. Baez, Diana Leon-Boys, Angharad N. Valdivia PART I: Representations of Quinceaneras in Film and Television Chapter One: "Remixing Quinceanera Traditions in The Fosters and Superman and Lois: Not Just a Birthday Party" Sonya M Aleman, Claudia Evans Zepeda, and Mari Castaneda Chapter Two: "A Plastic Cultural Celebration: The Quinceanera for All Ages" Diana Leon-Boys Chapter Three: "The Tragic Denial of Citizenship in On My Block's Quinceanera" Litzy Galarza Chapter Four: "Documenting/Documentary Quinces: Transitioning into Joy in Latinx/e Community Storytelling" Rachel Gonzalez-Martin PART II: Consumption and Exhibitions of Quinceaneras Chapter Five: "Our Dream Quinceanera Exhibit: Foregrounding Joy and Labor in Gendered Ethnic Production" Angharad N. Valdivia Chapter Six: "Quinceanera Ontologies: (Mediated) Latine Girlhoods...and Other Stories" Stephanie Perez Chapter Seven: "Challenging Latine/x Myths in Latinx Digital Media Coverage of Quinceaneras" Jillian M. Baez and Kelly Ferguson PART III: Transgressive Quinceaneras Chapter Eight: "Quinceanera Domesticana: Reading Latina Girlhood, Border Politics, and Consumption in Yvette Mayorga's "Really Safe in My Room in America" Jillian Hernandez Chapter Nine: "Designing a Quinceanero: The Quince Celebration and Potentials for Critical Hope" Michael DeAnda Chapter Ten: "Cincuentaneras on TikTok: Digital Feminist Celebrations of Senoras and 50th Birthdays" Dolores Ines Casillas and Karla Larranaga Chapter Eleven: "Queerness in Quinceanera Dance Performances and the Engano Cultural of Quinceanera Spaces" Ariana Cano Works Cited Appendices Appendix A: Latina Feminist Media Independent Studies Appendix B: Girlhood Studies Reading List Appendix C: Brief Latina Feminist Quinceanera Scholarship Appendix D: Quinceanera Stories Visual Media Filmography
