la lucha de los EEUU

just a little shout out to the heathered levis and her awesome quotes on the vida lucha in the huffington post.

en cordura y el miedo

i went to the stewart/colbert rally to restore sanity and/or fear. mostly i went because it was here, and seemed to be what all the cool kids were doing. But I allowed myself the privilege of claiming my involvement was something of "participant observation" given my research interests in the efficacy of various forms of (performative) social movements.

As per usual, my thoughts on the rally were not without critique. Was this just another vagina monologues/take back the night/national coming out day stunt to promote decidedly neoliberal ideologies and distract us from the real issues all in the guise of progressive politics? Well, pretty much, yes.

But as faux mia pointed out over vegan breakfast, protest in the U.S. doesn't work (anymore?). So we've moved on to something else. Something more corporate. Something less overtly (but still covertly) political. Something that appeals to desires of the masses and does not contradict or question the ideological indoctrination they've experienced since their reagan-era births. perhaps its as lukacs and postone suggest-the commodity fetishism pervades all aspects of life. we can't escape it, even in our efforts to express dissent.

celebrity is the new politics. We have wrestlers and bodybuilders that have become governors, and presidents that have been compared to paris hilton (not that i'm saying it was an astute comparison). corrupt governors get recruited for reality tv shows. politics is celebrity and celebrity is politics. hell, have we already forgotten that colbert actually tried to run in south carolina?

and this phenomenon is perhaps not unlike the cholita luchadora phenomenon. the overt political connections are not clearly defined, but it is a spectacular event that cannot truly be understood without analyzing it as political. it speaks to social relations, but in a way that is digestible to the crowd that gathers for it. it does not push the boundaries too far.

so then, the real question is: what is the effect? will we being to understand political rallies as forms of entertainment (which is basically why i went, as well as the middle-aged african-american guy next to me on the bus "well, its saturday, and its something to do."), complete with celebrity music performances and professional athletes video-conferenced in? will they become just another outlet for coca-cola or comedy central to sell their wares? and if so, does this necessarily forclose the possibility that they can contribute to progressive political action?

i suppose in both cases, only time will tell. but if performance truly is a space in which social relations become more clear and possibilities of change are envisioned, then we might be on to something here.

rey mysterio en bolivia

via alberto...

apparently, rey mysterio masks have shown up in bolivia (the picture is looking like a sagarnaga-area street in la paz, to me, but my expertise is not without flaw).

"mascara" en CSI

I better watch out!!!

thank goodness i work in bolivia, not mexico.

eleciones

hoy, la gente de bolivia votan.

the democracy center's reports.

and of course, how it relates to wrestling.

a little andean candy

a picture of a luchador wearing a Manfred Reyes mask (Reyes is 2nd in the polls-after Evo-for the upcoming Bolivian Presidential election)

(from Wall Street Journal Photos of the Day)

time to start learning arabic...

it seems female wrestlers in iraq are the new rage.
and i've only got about 7 minutes of my first luchadora interview transcribed. the work just keeps stacking up.

lucha blog

its weird when you show up in your own google reader.

la lucha

today marks the 4 year anniversary of the day i read this.

that's right, for 4 years i dreamed of the day i might see the "cholas" wrestling. i hoped to see the power of revolution in performance. i anticipated moralization of gender and race. i expected the power of the pollera would be manifest in the ring.

on sunday, i took a little tourist bus to la Ceja en El Alto, paid my 80 Bol, shivered, and watched. my previous hopes were not quite realized. now, don't get me wrong, i am not entirely disappointed. but what i found was more tourist spectacle than local phenomenon (and i wonder if half the local phenomenon is coming to see the crazy gring@s watch the event). and most of women's empowerment seemed to come from demasculinizing men: pulling down their pants, forcing them to wear skirts, etc. Of course, the men retaliated, at times by kissing them (what's that say about sexual violence?).

so the luchadoras are not quite the feminists i had hoped (though, this does not surprise me entirely). but i've also found a lovely little anarchist feminist group. now, i just have to figure out how this all fits together...

lucha manana

look what youtube recommended for me



(and seriously, traditional inca dress? try hacienda era...)

el luchador

mamaH called tonight to tell me about an interview with aronofsky on npr about "The Wrestler." I especially liked what he had to say about use of the body as art, but he strayed away from questioning about a fascination with pain, unfortunately.

and this is just awesome!

la lucha politico y fisico

i have been contemplating whether to write anything here about (sort of) seeing the first half-non-white (not to diminish this vast step forward) president's swearing in. in fact, last night in a somewhat sleep deprived stupor i even typed out a long blog that i had concocted in my head in a total sleep deprived stupor the night before. it somehow connected anti-pacifism, anarchism, the bolivian water war, marx quotes, and obama emblazoned toasters. and while that might sound amazing, i assure you that after reading it again this morning, you are lucky i never posted it.

writing about politics has never been my strong point. i tend to get carried away and take metaphors to irrational lengths and such. and while i wish to not publicize my own crafty ways of doing this, my old friend entropy posted this in a facebook note on the inauguration, and i just couldn't help but re-post.

* Along those same lines, it was not unlike watching live professional wrestling. The biggest heel heat came for President Bush and Joe Lieberman respectively, while the biggest face pops were for Almost President Obama, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Ted Kennedy, Colin Powell, Al Gore, Jay-Z and Diddy, and me screaming enthusiastically for Walter Mondale respectively.*

the funny thing is, in an attempt to keep my nose from getting frostbite on tuesday, i was trying to think warm thoughts. one of which happened to be....i wonder how long before barak starts referring to his homeland security measures as "the people's elbow."

(for more on electoral politics and wrestling, see this earlier post)

tacos tacos, everywhere, tacos

whoa. paul brooks is famous. and if the pantagraph isn't proof, perhaps cnn is:

Watch CBS Videos Online

of course, you can rely on national media all you want, but the real story is at fuw.

luchando con la governadora

the rest of you out there in blog land might not share my fascination with wrestling, but you can't deny the absurdity of this

yes, sarah palin has been invited to attend TNA's december event, and not only that but to join the knockouts. at risk of reinforcing stereotypes about who watches wrestling and being complacent with the totally unnecessary sexualization of palin during the campaign, i just want to say that this seems all too appropriate. if there really is a palin 2012 in store, this seems like just the way to begin the pre-campaign.

hopefully my humor is shining through. in case its not though, i'll let rachel maddow cover me

lucha libre

home makes me nostalgic

and then something like this comes along. the thing that started me off on the whole wrestling fascination. maybe even my interest in masculinity and pain.

look out for wily coyote and that sewing 17 year old girl who looks exactly like me (except maybe minus a few pounds). god, even the hairdo's the same. that was my very first ethnographic interview. of course, i was the informant/subject/interlocutor/person with whom larry worked, rather than the ethnographer. but still, in many ways, this is where it all started.

i wonder if i can get a grant to pay for my travel to the reunion....