Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages

Advisor

Oswaldo Zavala

Subject Categories

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Latin American Literature | Theatre and Performance Studies

Keywords

Contemporary Latin American Literature, Gender studies, Globalization, Masculinities, Mexican Theatre

Abstract

The present investigation focuses on how masculinities are conformed and represented in the plays of two generations of Mexican playwrights, the New Dramatists of Mexico and the younger Sixth Generation in an attempt to reflect upon recent conceptualizations of gender as well as contemporary changes in society mainly due to globalization and the impact of feminism and gay movements. The limited literature focused on Mexican masculinities has overlooked the importance of theatre as a privileged and productive setting for the study of gender. Another common factor in studies dedicated to the representation of Mexican men in literature is the focus on the homosexual man. Without ignoring his appearance in the selected plays, I intend to fulfill this critical lacuna by examining heterosexual masculinities that have a problematic correspondence with the normative conventions and gender ideologies of society. In particular, I will analyze the complexities and limitations of the basic dichotomy between chingones and chingados envisioned by Octavio Paz's seminal essay The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950) that has a dominant influence in Mexico's cultural production across the second half of the twentieth century. Instead of Paz's binary, non-essentialist terms such as hegemonic, non-hegemonic, supportive, or marginal masculinities will lead our discussion, but always keeping in mind the relational and always changing nature of masculinities performances. This characteristic nature of gender guarantees the future occurrence of a different masculinity, one that even if only barely delineated by the end of this dissertation, will not base its existence on the subordination of others.

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