(Ef)Facing the Face of Nationalism: Wrestling Masks in Chicano and Mexican Performance Art

Authors

Robert Neustadt, Northern Arizona University

Keywords

nationalism, Chicano, Mexican, performance art, contemporary performance, tradition, culture, wrestling masks, U.S., nationalism, face, power, identity, sign

Abstract

Masks serve as particularly effective props in contemporary Mexican and Chicano performance art because of a number of deeply rooted traditions in Mexican culture. This essay explores the mask as code of honor in Mexican culture, and foregrounds the manner in which a number of contemporary Mexican and Chicano artists and performers strategically employ wrestling masks to (ef)face the mask-like image of Mexican or U.S. nationalism. I apply the label "performance artist" broadly, to include musicians and political figures that integrate an exaggerated sense of theatricality into their performances. Following the early work of Roland Barthes, I read performances as "texts" in which the wrestling masks function as immediately recognizable signs. I argue that by masking their identity and alluding to popular mask traditions, Chicano and Mexican performance artists make visible, and interrogate, the national face(s) of power.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Neustadt, Robert (2001) "(Ef)Facing the Face of Nationalism: Wrestling Masks in Chicano and Mexican Performance Art ," Studies in 20th Century Literature: Vol. 25: Iss. 2, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1510