Diana Leon-Boys

Bringing together discourses of Latina girlhood and ambiguity, in this article I interrogate Disney Junior’s specific and ambiguous Latinidad in three key episodes from the first season ofElena of Avalor. This type of intersectional analysis is seldom found in Disney scholarship, despite the relative abundance of existing work on Disney-generated cultural production. By analyzing the ambiguity (Joseph 2018) and unambivalent structure of ambivalence (Valdivia 2020) present in Disney’s deployment of animated Latina can-do girlhood (Harris 2004), in this article, I provide an intersectional approach to the study of Disney Junior animated content and Latina girlhood in contemporary popular culture. I argue thatElena of Avaloris the result of Disney’s avowed and disavowed dedication to the construction of Latinidad and can-do girlhood. The result of this is a fluctuation and flexible navigation between specificity and ambiguity within one narrative franchise.

Research indicates that Disney theme parks function as sites of ideological negotiation. This study builds on the research by examining Disney World’s incorporation of its first avowed Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Bringing together discourses of Latinidad, theme parks, and media, this essay focuses on how the park incorporates Elena into its landscape at the level of production, representation, and audiences. I argue that Disney’s inclusion of Elena, and by extension Latinidad, is malleable, situated within the geographic setting, and dependent on various factors seldom disclosed by the conglomerate. Ultimately, Elena exists as an outsider within the Disney park universe.

“Nobodiness does not equate to invisibility, but rather, is a tactical navigation and subversion of the constraints of visibility and the dominant institutions that exploit those constraints for profit and power” (180). This book will appeal to a broad academic audience, including teachers and scholars of gender and sexuality studies, critical race and ethnic studies, American studies, cultural studies, media studies, surveillance studies, and legal studies. It provides strategic insights for social justice activists working on a range of issues who find themselves battling media frames that refuse to reflect the nuance and complexity of intersectional identities and experiences. Fischer’s book holds additional value as a methodological and ethical model for research in the humanities. Fischer’s novel approach, a “queer scavenger methodology,” yields utterly compelling analytical results and promises to make a lasting contribution to work on the racialized surveillance practices of the state by accenting its gendered aspects.

(Paper co-authored with Diana Leon-Boys). Abstract: This article examines a recent mediated version of Latina girlhood, the teenage science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) genius, through an analysis of a Netflix original series: Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love (2020). The series offers a representation of girlhood that does not fully align with either the “at-risk” or the “can-do” girls that have appeared previously on television. By conducting a qualitative analysis that highlights key episodes, we interrogate the layered representation of Latina girlhood offered in the show, focusing on two aspects: how the title character, Ashley, appears as a particular embodiment of a contemporary Latina teenager, and how she is narratively positioned in the story line. Our findings suggest that the series showcases a complex albeit ambiguous and ambivalent representation of Latina girlhood. This portrayal is exaggerated and fantastic and ultimately falls back on common tropes found in teen-oriented television. Online at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QWIVHB4XCFFANY6PII2M/full?target=10.1080%2F07491409.2022.2147676&cookieSet=1

Bringing together discourses of Latina girlhood and ambiguity, in this article I interrogate Disney Junior’s specific and ambiguous Latinidad in three key episodes from the first season ofElena of Avalor. This type of intersectional analysis is seldom found in Disney scholarship, despite the relative abundance of existing work on Disney-generated cultural production. By analyzing the ambiguity (Joseph 2018) and unambivalent structure of ambivalence (Valdivia 2020) present in Disney’s deployment of animated Latina can-do girlhood (Harris 2004), in this article, I provide an intersectional approach to the study of Disney Junior animated content and Latina girlhood in contemporary popular culture. I argue thatElena of Avaloris the result of Disney’s avowed and disavowed dedication to the construction of Latinidad and can-do girlhood. The result of this is a fluctuation and flexible navigation between specificity and ambiguity within one narrative franchise.

Working at the intersection of Media Studies, Latina/o Studies, and Girls’ Studies, this dissertation explores Disney’s contemporary construction of Latinidad by focusing on Elena of Avalor, Disney’s first Latina princess. Situated against the backdrop of contemporary postfeminist and neoliberal discourses of girls, this dissertation examines Disney’s engagement with these discourses as they move from their previously binary approach of black/white representations. Through a multi-method project, consisting of three case studies, I interrogate a mediated Latina girlhood at three different nodes: production, text, and audiences. My analysis is inspired by the circuit of culture approach (Du Gay et al., 1997) and what media studies scholar Douglas Kellner refers to as the tripartite approach to media/cultural studies (Kellner, 1995). I understand the production, text, and audience components of this dissertation as equally significant processes that must be studied together in order to unearth the significance of this cultural text in relation to Latina girlhoods. More specifically, my dissertation investigates the following questions: Does Disney’s construction of Elena of Avalor fit with their ambivalent inclusion of Latinidad and if so how?; and is Elena a consistent figure of girl power? Disney, a global purveyor of media content and one of the top transnational media conglomerates, functions in a demographic reality in which the 2000 U.S. Census revealed that Latinxs are the largest minority in the nation. Disney’s acknowledgement of these findings is heterogeneous in that they continue to produce ethnically specific characters and narratives while simultaneously courting a broad range of global audiences through tenuous ethnic ambiguity. Their newest princess, which Disney introduces as proudly Latina, embodies elements of the specific as well as of the ambiguous ethnic. This project examines the limits and possibilities of this intrinsically contradictory strategy to representation of ethnicity by analyzing the production of the text along with Disney’s previous engagements with race and ethnicity in general and Latin American-ness and US Latinidad in particular; discursively analyzing three key episodes in the first season; and interrogating how Disneyland includes and situates Elena and her fans at the park.U of I OnlyAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste

In the summer of 2019, Disneyland opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, an immersive experience where visitors imagine themselves as members of a resistance army fighting against a colonizing power. As Disney’s theme parks have increasingly become conduits of global flows, the company’s original brand of U.S. exceptionalism has become incompatible with the company’s strategic needs. In this article, we argue that Disney’s newest themed land, Galaxy’s Edge, functions as a reworking of Disney’s colonial discourse and borderland narrative, where postracial borderland fantasies coincide with the conglomerate’s evolution from a national project to a global enterprise. Within this intergalactic borderland, racialized bodies play an important role in creating an authentic experience, but in doing so, perform various forms of labor on behalf of Disney. Through an analysis of the labor that racialized bodies perform at Galaxy’s Edge, we examine how Disney’s modern-day articulation of the borderla...

Research indicates that Disney theme parks function as sites of ideological negotiation. This study builds on the research by examining Disney World’s incorporation of its first avowed Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Bringing together discourses of Latinidad, theme parks, and media, this essay focuses on how the park incorporates Elena into its landscape at the level of production, representation, and audiences. I argue that Disney’s inclusion of Elena, and by extension Latinidad, is malleable, situated within the geographic setting, and dependent on various factors seldom disclosed by the conglomerate. Ultimately, Elena exists as an outsider within the Disney park universe.

“Nobodiness does not equate to invisibility, but rather, is a tactical navigation and subversion of the constraints of visibility and the dominant institutions that exploit those constraints for profit and power” (180). This book will appeal to a broad academic audience, including teachers and scholars of gender and sexuality studies, critical race and ethnic studies, American studies, cultural studies, media studies, surveillance studies, and legal studies. It provides strategic insights for social justice activists working on a range of issues who find themselves battling media frames that refuse to reflect the nuance and complexity of intersectional identities and experiences. Fischer’s book holds additional value as a methodological and ethical model for research in the humanities. Fischer’s novel approach, a “queer scavenger methodology,” yields utterly compelling analytical results and promises to make a lasting contribution to work on the racialized surveillance practices of the state by accenting its gendered aspects.

Research indicates that Disney theme parks function as sites of ideological negotiation. This study builds on the research by examining Disney World’s incorporation of its first avowed Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Bringing together discourses of Latinidad, theme parks, and media, this essay focuses on how the park incorporates Elena into its landscape at the level of production, representation, and audiences. I argue that Disney’s inclusion of Elena, and by extension Latinidad, is malleable, situated within the geographic setting, and dependent on various factors seldom disclosed by the conglomerate. Ultimately, Elena exists as an outsider within the Disney park universe.

In the summer of 2019, Disneyland opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, an immersive experience where visitors imagine themselves as members of a resistance army fighting against a colonizing power. As Disney’s theme parks have increasingly become conduits of global flows, the company’s original brand of U.S. exceptionalism has become incompatible with the company’s strategic needs. In this article, we argue that Disney’s newest themed land, Galaxy’s Edge, functions as a reworking of Disney’s colonial discourse and borderland narrative, where postracial borderland fantasies coincide with the conglomerate’s evolution from a national project to a global enterprise. Within this intergalactic borderland, racialized bodies play an important role in creating an authentic experience, but in doing so, perform various forms of labor on behalf of Disney. Through an analysis of the labor that racialized bodies perform at Galaxy’s Edge, we examine how Disney’s modern-day articulation of the borderland obscures the realities of the borderlands beyond the park.

Given that Disney’s engagements with Latinidad often involve tenuous and flexible representations, Elena of Avalor (2016) and Coco (2017) stand out as contemporary animated examples of specific cultural narratives. Elena of Avalor, for example, is hailed as Disney’s first Latina princess. Meanwhile, Coco takes place in Mexico and the land of the dead. In order to reach as many audiences as possible, Disney creates pseudo-authentic implausible universes, fusing Latin American elements with fantasy. This paper argues that the fantastical narratives in both texts highlight, and draw on inspirations from Latin America, specifically Mexico, rather than U.S. Latinidad. If, as Báez (2018) agues, Latinx audiences utilize media in order to understand their status of belonging and worth in the nation, what is the significance of highlighting Latin American experiences via animation rather than U.S. Latinx narratives?

Disney functions in a demographic reality in which the 2000 U.S. Census revealed that Latina/os are the largest minority in the nation. Disney’s acknowledgement of these findings is heterogeneous in that they continue to play with ethnically specific characters and narratives while simultaneously courting a broad range of global audiences through tenuous ethnic ambiguity. Their newest and proudly Latina princess embodies elements of the specific as well as of the ambiguous ethnic. In this paper, I examine three salient themes that present themselves through a reading of the production practices behind Elena of Avalor. I understand production as a bridge between industry and audiences that acknowledges the power required in making culture. Employing a discursive analysis of Disney’s online and televised promotion of Elena of Avalor, before and after its debut, I posit that Disney uses/used three prominent production practices for Elena. First, it produces a flexible Latinidad through the series and Disney social media platforms. Second, it produces a specific kind of talent and utilizes the labor of the actors to promote the series’ Latinidad. Finally, it produces Elena as a way to showcase Disney’s corporate social responsibility through Elena’s partnership with Girl Scouts U.S.A.

What does it mean to be a Latina and a mother in academia? Although the conversation surrounding motherhood in academia is already alive, this panel foregrounds motherhood from the margins. The panelists examine the positionalities of Latina mothers in the academy through an intersectional lens, bringing together academic Mamás to discuss the unique experiences they face. It is our goal to expand the current conversation to include motherhood perspectives that are seldom taken into consideration.

Studies indicate that women “are significantly less likely to achieve tenure than men who have children early in their careers” (Evans & Grant, 2008, p. xx). The academic baby penalty has inspired mothers to create academic panels, blogs, a collection of essays (Mama PhD) and a how-to guide (Professor Mommy), however few of these offer intersectional perspectives. The editors of Mama PhD (2008), for example, acknowledge that the text offers little insight from women of color, with one essay blaming the dissatisfaction felt by minority mothers in academia “on personal choices that prevent cooperation and socializing, rather than on generalized unkindness or latent prejudice” (Duran, 2008, p. 83). Narratives in volumes like Presumed Incompetent (2012), however, show that WoC face unique challenges unrelated to personal choices, as they navigate motherhood in academia. As outsiders within (Collins, 1986), the panelists argue that theorizing from marginalized perspectives allows academic Mamás to offer a more complete view of what motherhood in academia looks like, based on the intersecting facets of their identities. As such, this panel includes perspectives from Mamás that are tenure track, tenured, graduate students, and administrators. Panelists will explore questions such as:
● How do our identities as Mamás uniquely position us in academia in ways that challenge, reinforce, and/or extend current conversations around academic motherhood?
● How does motherhood enable/constrain our careers? How do our careers enable/constrain our motherhoods?
● What advice do we need as Mamá PhDs, and what advice can we offer others at different points in their journey?

With the recent implementation of SB4 in Texas and numerous political debates drawing on issues of race under the Trump administration, it is imperative to examine how popular culture, including sitcoms, portrays issues of race throughout various narratives. Mainstream television programming often serves to reinforce oppressive ideologies about certain groups of people, but it can also serve to create ruptures withinin longstanding representations. Amidst reports that Hollywood is suffering from an inclusion crisis (Smith, Choueiti, & Pieper, 2016) and that Latina/o representation on television is significantly lower than the demographic realities of this population (Negrón-Mutaner & Abbas, 2016), CW’s Jane the Virgin has carved out a space for itself on primetime television for four years, with the promise of a new season on the horizon. Jane the Virgin, a dramedy about a pregnant virgin, provides a complex representation of Latinidad against the backdrop of an anti-Latina/o political moment. The series heavily implements Spanish in every episode, features an almost all-Latina/o cast, and addresses timely issues (abortion, immigration, and the recent presidential election). For these reasons, the narrative appears to stand out as a seminal text in bringing awareness to the complexities present within Latina/o groups. Done through a critically discursive analysis of three episodes in the first season of the series, and drawing on larger themes present throughout the rest of the seasons, this study examines the use of Spanglish/Spanish in the series to explain how Jane the Virgin is broadening the definition of Latinidad on primetime television. By portraying a new face of Latinidad, one which feels no need to suppress the Spanish language, this television series stands in opposition to the numerous comments made by our current president denouncing the use of Spanish in this nation. In order to examine the role of resistance on mainstream television, this study interrogates how Jane the Virgin strategically utilizes Spanish on an English-language television network to provide a unique representation of Latinidad before, during, and after Trump’s election.

The research on Disney’s princess culture is vast, but the ways in which princesses of color are portrayed needs further expanding as Disney continues their attempts to cater to audiences of color. Through discursive analysis of key episodes and online Latina celebrity praise for the series, this paper critically engages the complexities surrounding Disney’s first Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. This paper addresses the implications of Disney’s first Latina princess and argues that young Latina celebrities function as audiences and promoters of Disney’s “diversification.”

Panel Abstract: We are testimonialistas. Speaking from the wounds in our mouths (Weems, 2003) and the epistemology of our brown bodies (Cruz, 2001), we are here to disrupt articulations of our presumed 'place' both inside and outside of the academy. The place of our bodies. The place of our labor. The place of our testimonios. Frequently mistaken as the 'help' (nannies, janitors, retail associates, housekeepers, etc.), we (re)claim this conversation not to enact a dichotomy of us versus them, but to flip the script on the capitalist institutions that execute a 'violence of value' that promotes a devaluing of labor as well as a divide between communities of color. By re-evaluating the connections between labor and social 'places of belonging', we illuminate the artificial 'protections' afforded to us by our education in order to critique neoliberal exploitation of brown bodies. Utilizing women of color and indigenous feminisms along with critical race theory and Latina/o bilingualism scholarship, this panel interweaves our testimonios, instances of mistaken identity based on physical appearance, name, location, language usage, and perceived incompetence and body politics within the classroom. Our testimonios put into conversation embodied discourses to address systemic instances of 'mistaken identity' that we contend are not innocent errors, but are culpable assemblages of power, racism, and sexism.

On August 3, 2016, Disney hosted Elena of Avalor’s royal welcome at its Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando. The live debut featured Craig Gerber, the executive producer and creator of Elena of Avalor and Sofia the First, who mentioned that “It was very important for us that in creating Disney’s first Latina princess that we create a fairy tale that was very relatable, that was based on authentic culture, that Latino audiences could watch and feel like they were represented” (Mauney, 2106). As evidenced through the previous statement, Elena of Avalor is Disney’s first avowed Latina princess, and since her royal debut at the park, Elena appears at both U.S. theme park locations, during peak seasons, usually for five minute intervals three to six times a day. Grounded in Suchar’s (1997) methodological approach to photodocumentation, and drawing on Valdivia’s (2008a,b, 2011) work on mediated Latina girlhood, this paper provides a situated ethnography, blending photodocumentation and participant observation, at Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom Fantasy Faire Courtyard location. The ethnographic analysis focuses on how the park situates Elena of Avalor in comparison to the other Disney princesses and how park guests interact with her and vice versa. Disney theme parks, nationally and internationally, tend to promote a narrow version of “America,” and this ethnography interrogates how the California theme park incorporates their latest Latina tween girl princess into the Disney park universe.

Given the undeniable presence and growth of Latina/os in the US, even Disney has taken notice of this population, and therefore, implicit target audience for profit growth.  As a result, Disney gingerly continues to develop Latina/o characters, franchises, and products that represent Latina/os and commodify Latinidad.  Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor, two of the most marketed Disney properties, seek to articulate the immensely profitable Disney Princess line to Latina/o characters and narratives.  This project explores if and how Disney differentially markets these princesses in relation to “white” princesses.  We use Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, as the comparative norm, given that her implicit location—France—firmly situates her within a Eurocentric tale of origin.  Our analysis includes types of toys, packaging, and accessories. We examine how the toys are marketed through stores such as Target, Disney online, as well as their positioning within the ShopDisney site.