Selenidad

An outpouring of memorial tributes and public expressions of grief followed the 1995 death of the Tejana recording artist Selena Quintanilla Perez. The Latina superstar was remembered and mourned in documentaries, magazines, Web sites, monuments, biographies, murals, look-alike contests, musicals, drag shows, and more. Calling these and other acts of mourning the slain star Selenidad, Deborah Paredez explores their significance and the broader meanings of remembering Selena. She considers the performer's career and emergence as a posthumous icon within political and cultural transformations in the United States during the 1990s, the decade that witnessed a 'Latin explosion' in culture and commerce alongside a resurgence of anti-immigrant discourse and policy. Paredez argues that Selena's death galvanized Latina/o efforts to publicly mourn collective tragedies (such as the murders of young women along the U.S.-Mexico border) and to envision a brighter future. At the same time, reactions to the star's death catalyzed corporate attempts to corner the Latino market and political jockeying for the Latino vote. Foregrounding the role of performance in the politics of remembering, Paredez unravels the cultural, economic, and political dynamics at work in specific commemorations of Selena. She analyzes Selena's final concert, the controversy surrounding the memorial erected in the star's hometown of Corpus Christi, and the political climate that served as the backdrop to the touring musicals "Selena Forever" (2000) and "Selena: A Musical Celebration of Life" (2001). Paredez considers what 'becoming' Selena meant to the young Latinas who auditioned for the 1997 biopic Selena, and she surveys a range of Latina/o queer engagements with Selena, including Latina lesbian readings of the star's death scene and queer Selena drag. "Selenidad" is a provocative exploration of how commemorations of Selena reflected and changed Latinidad.