Colonial Bodies at the Media Universal Stage: The Case of Puerto Rico’s Participation in Miss Universe

Authors

  • Manuel G Avilés-Santiago Arizona State University

Keywords:

beauty pageants, Miss Puerto Rico, embodiment, colonialism

Abstract

Beauty pageants have occupied a prominent role in popular culture in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean. In countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, pageants have become not only an opportunity for social mobility but also a space in which the complex layers of identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, and class, take center stage. In the case of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth of the United States (U.S.) but also a bridge of the Americas, pageants have become a transnational display of cultural nationalism. With the highest number of international beauty queens per square mile, the island’s national pageant circuit has historically showcased values of Puerto Rico’s unique ethno-national identity. This article explores the figure of Miss Puerto Rico as a case study in how beauty queens, as a symbolic representation of an ethno-nation, have embodied the socio-political and cultural tensions that emerged from the complex colonial relation between Puerto Rico and the U.S. while presenting a unique case to understand nationalism in Latin American.

Author Biography

Manuel G Avilés-Santiago, Arizona State University

Manuel Avilés-Santiago obtained his PhD in Media Studies at the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas-Austin. His most recent book Puerto Rican Soldiers and Second-Class Citizenship: Representations in Media, examines the cultural history of the imaginary of the Puerto Rican soldier, from representations in traditional media to self-representations in digital/social media.  His research interests are located within the areas of Technology and Culture, Race/ethnicity and Media, Digital/Social Media, Latino/a and Spanish Caribbean Studies. Born in Mayaguez and raised in Aguada, Puerto Rico, Aviles-Santiago holds a Bachelor Degree in Communications and a Master in Research in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.  

in 20017, Aviles-Santiago was awarded with the Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral   administered by the National Research Council. He has worked for several research centers such as Center for Communication Research and the Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets. He also has worked as Research Assistant and Project Manager for the Voces: Latino and Latina Oral History Project under the advisory of Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez.

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Published

2016-09-20