El Narcotraficante: Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexican Border (review)

230 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Feminizing the Enemy: Imperial Spain, Transvestite Drama, and the Crisis of Masculinity Bucknell University Press, 2003 By Sidney Donnell The study of cross-dressing on the early modern Spanish stage has been a fertile field for many years—especially in terms ofthe popular mujer vestida de hombre device—while scholarship on non-traditional sexuality in sixteenthand seventeenth-century Spanish literature, drama, and culture has likewise seen a boom in recent years. Sidney Donnell's impressive book Feminizing the Enemy both builds upon and challenges previous studies on transgressive gender and desire in the comedia by focusing on plays in which men dress as women as well as the context in which they were written, performed, and interpreted. In this insightful and engaging analysis of dramatic texts and performances the author takes conservatism in Comedia Studies to task over gender ambiguities by investigating the essentialized understandings of identity as it relates to masculinity, femininity, sexuality, class, and ethnicity in early modern transvestite drama. Chapter one, for example, proves informative and engaging details of the early sixteenth-century conflict over who would play feminine roles—men, boys, or women. The author adeptly demonstrates die conditions and consequences of how the all-male casts in the mid-sixteenth century slowly integrated female actresses and how by the end ofthe seventeenth century only women played the female roles. The remaining chapters continue the investigation of how transvestite drama developed and changed in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Donnell relies heavily on the theoretical framework of Judith Butler in Gender Troubh to expose the naturalization of gender identity in Habsburg Spain. The plays selected for in-depth analysis include Lope de Rueda's Comedia Medora, Alonso de Morales's Comedia de, los amores y hcuras del conde loco, Lope de Vega's ElparaÃ-so de Laura y florestas del amor, Cristóbal Monroy y Silva's El caballero dama, and CalderórÃ-s La púrpura de L· rosa. Perhaps one ofthe most impressive aspects of Donnell's study is found in his ability to draw connections between his textual analyses, the performance of diese plays within their social and historical context, and the relevance of late-twentieth century gender theory and cultural studies. While the author convincingly demonstrates what Judith Buder would call the performative act of gender, as I read I couldn't help wondering how DonneU would apply Butler's recent reconsideration of her previous theories on transgressive gender and sexuality (in Undoing Gender) and perhaps even the claims of some transgendered individuals today who argue that, for them, non-traditional gender identity feels more "natural" and therefore not as performative as would traditional mainstream expectations. In fact, these gender complexities create a fascinating dialogue with the author's reading of the transgendered Catalina de Erauso, as weU as the interpretations and performances of her life in the seventeenth century. Of course, my desire to continue discussion ofthe issues elucidated by Donnell is proof that this erudite, weU-argued, and innovative study is as provocative as the material of investigation. Sherry Velasco University of Kentucky El Narcotraficante: Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U. S.-Mexican Border University of Texas Press, 2004 By Mark Cameron Edberg In El Narcotraficante Mark Cameron Edberg examines the cultural image ofthe drug trafficker , a representation that has been comodified and recast by the Mexican and Mexican American cultures, the surrounding socioeconomic circumstances, the music industry, and various mass media outlets. Conducting his research mainly along the border area of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, as well as in Los Angeles, the audior interviewed narcocorrido listeners, performers, disc jockeys and record producers. Aided by a Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 231 thorough theoretical background and a useful research methodology, Edberg is able to tackle interesting questions and notions about the nature and interpretation of narcocorridos such as die relationship between the narcocorrido hero and the hero image in traditional corrido; social factors related to common themes in narcocorridos ; the impact of modern mass-media in narcocorridos ; and how the narcotrafficker persona portrayed in narcocorridos is related to behavior patterns among listeners. The...