Embodying Difference: Scripting Social Images of the Female Body in Latina Theatre - Tapa dura

Linking performance and theater studies, women's studies, and Chicana/Latina feminist theory, Saborio (Northern Illinois Univ.) examines the language and staged social images of the female body in diverse representations of Latina subjects in theater. She argues that Latina characters in the plays she discusses redefine the language and images used by the systems that oppress them "through a defiance of the body as a signifier of fixed identities and a rescripting of the oppressive language used to define it." After a cogent, well-researched, scholarly introduction that lays out the theoretical and critical frameworks, the six chapters of the book develop the main argument carefully and clearly. Each chapter builds on its predecessor: first, Saborio exposes dominant stereotypes; then she explores the critical possibilities of Latinidad; from there, she addresses the concept of a Latina body politic in grassroots feminist movements. She then theorizes the ways in which the Latina body has been gendered and racialized by capitalism and patriarchy, and the ways in which resistance is articulated along these lines. Finally, she offers a critique of the Catholic Church in Latin America in her discussion of Anne Garcia-Romero's play Santa Concepcion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. * CHOICE *

Embodying Difference offers a fresh perspective on the current theoretical debates about the role of Latinas in today's multicultural society and globalization's impact on cultural attitudes toward femininity. Saborio's interdisciplinary approach links feminist and gender discourse, cultural studies, and theatrical performances as a means of exploring many dynamic forms of cultural productions.