Abstract

Reggaetón is a popular Latin American music genre that has grown exponentially in terms of commercial success and global recognition. The genre is made up of a mixture of different other Latin American musical genre as well as Hip-Hop and therefore lends itself to the construction of a pan-Latinx identity among consumers of Latin American descent in the United States. This paper examines how consumers use reggeatón to construct a panethnic identity, negotiate their particular ethnic identity with their pan-Latinx identity, and follow gendered scripts of latinidad. Using interview and ethnographic data, this paper will answer a set of related questions. How is reggaetón used to construct a pan-Latinx identity? What are the messages, values, and ideas tied to reggaetón that inform latinidad? How do Latinx consumers perform gendered forms of latinidad legitimated by reggaetón? Prior theoretical work on panethnicity and the construction of gender identity guide these questions. Findings suggest that reggaetón bolsters pan-Latinx identity but does not cancel the importance of the specific ethnic identity. Reggaetón provides consumers with notions of what it means to be Latinx through its associated consumption practices and through the use of Spanish. Finally, reggaetón legitimates certain scripts around Latinx femininity and masculinity.

Type of Work

Thesis - Limited Access

Department or Program

Sociology

Institution

Hamilton College

Degree

Bachelor of Arts

Date of Graduation

5-2018

Faculty Advisor

Stephen J. Ellingson

Creative Commons License

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

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