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Oxford Brookes University (Gipsy Lane Campus)
A Dramaturgical Analysis of Latina Influencers Use of Props and Settings to Signal Identity
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Arthur D Soto-Vásquez
Dramaturgical analysis has been applied by scholars to social media influencers, but how props and settings are used to signal identity is understudied. This study uses a series of in-depth interviews with Latina influencers who live and work in a mid-size city on the U.S./Mexico border and an analysis of corresponding posts to explore how props and settings can be used to signal gender and race while also communicating authenticity. The findings show that influencers have to carefully and strategically navigate the use of props and settings to not appear fake and contrived. They blend the use of frontstage props with calibrated sharing of backstage settings to approximate an authentic online performance of their branded identity that is approachable but also monetizable. When performing their gender, the influencers adopt a having-it-all performance, balancing family, beauty, career success, and health while using backstage settings to create connection. Finally, Latina influencers on the border portray it as a setting that differs from its main-stream representation as a place to avoid. They also strategically deploy Latina identity to market themselves and localize national trends.
Agency in Creating Immigrant Identity through Foodways: Mango Memories and Culinary Nostalgia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Constance Kirker
This paper examines examples of the shared use of mango references as a culinary metaphor that is powerful in maintaining immigrant identity in the works of diaspora authors from a variety of regions of the world, including South Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, and across a variety of genres, including novels, culinary memoirs, and children’s books. There has been past criticism of so-called sari-mango literature, suggesting that use of the image of mango is a cliché, even “lazy,” attempt to “exoticize” and sentimentalize South Asia in particular. A broader review across national boundaries reveals that diaspora authors including those beyond South Asia, write nostalgically about mango as much about the messy “full body” tactile experience of eating a mango as about the “exotic” quality of mango representing the “otherness” of their home country. Many of the narratives detail universal childhood food experiences that are more shared than exotic, such as a desire to subvert the adult societal rules of neatness and get very messy, or memories of small but memorable childhood transgressions such as stealing mangoes from a neighbor’s tree. In recent years, food technology has evolved, and mangoes have become more familiar and readily available in Europe and America, from smoothies and baby food to dried fruit snacks. The meaning associated with the imagery of mangoes for both writers and readers in diaspora literature evolves as well and authors do not have to heed Salman Rushdie’s command, “There must be no tropical fruits in the title. No mangoes.”
