Date of Award

12-17-2014

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

First Advisor

Amira Jarmakani

Second Advisor

Gina Caison

Third Advisor

Susan Talburt

Abstract

This thesis examines contradictory stereotypes navigated by Latina celebrities within dominant representations of Latina identity. On one hand, Latinas are represented as traditional and family-oriented and on the other hand are understood as exotic and hypersexual. I argue that the marketing and content of cookbooks by Eva Longoria and Gloria and Emilio Estefan serve to perpetuate dominant stereotypes about what it means to be/cook/eat Latina, which limits the possibilities for relating to food and creates a narrative of a static, homogenous Latina identity. By performing rhetorical analysis of cookbooks by Eva Longoria and Gloria and Emilio Estefan, I illustrate the ways in which the cookbooks function to legitimize both the ethnic authenticity of the celebrity author and of the cuisine itself.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/6016994

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