Construction of Identity in Diasporic Communities: Musical Artists Performance of Caribbeanness and Latinidad

This thesis highlights and explores the performances of four diasporic Caribbean artists-Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and Rihanna. Their performances inhabit intersectional factors of race, gender, class, sexuality, and create a multifaceted experience of moving in the world. Their existence is marked by stereotypes that criminalize and sexualize them. United States representation of these communities is riddled with stereotypes that justify racial and gender injustice. These four artists both reinforce and undo these stereotypes in fascinating ways. Using Latinx cultural theorist Isabel Molina-Guzmán along with political theorist Judith Butler's theory on performativity as my theoretical guide, I conceptualize Latinidad and Caribbeanness and analyze what performance can do in order to subvert stereotypes as they risk reinforcing them. These artists engage in gender and racial patriarchal scripts while simultaneously critiquing the norms that dictate the performances they present.