Spectacular Bodies: Folklorization and the Politics of Identity in Ecuadorian Beauty Pageants

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<jats:p>This article examines two pairs of beauty pageants in which “white” and “indigenous” contestants, respectively, compete before spectators and judges for the title of “queen.” In the pageants for white contestants sponsored by the respective municipal governments, white contestants dress and dance as indigenous women, whereas in the pagean s organized by ethnic political federations for indigenous contestants, the contestants dress and dance in “traditional” versions of their own identities. The analysis demonstrates how the white pageant incorporates and marginalizes indigenous identity as a component of municipal identity, whereas the indigenous pageant separates and authenticates indigenous culture as a vantage point for social critique and political action The ambivalences and limitations of these performative constructions of identity are also examined.</jats:p>

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