Resumen

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The Latino body in the United States has been admired, questioned, rejected and typecast, all in efforts to be deciphered as a group. These attempts encourage a fetish around this group of bodies, as they are observed in order to be labelled as “latino.” Michel Focault’s idea of the “spectacle” and the “spectator” is present in the notion of fetishization of this group. The fetishization ofa body in turn produces a power-based relationship that labels a person as “latino” and robs this individual of his or her freedom; this phenomenon can be detected in the readings of an image of an American Girl doll, the poem “Pentachrome,” and an interview of the actress Sofia Vergara. The image that is identified as Latino is from the cover of a children’s book. This book, from the AmericanGirl series of books and dolls, was first published in 1997. The picture itself was drawn by an English illustrator named Jean-Paul Tibbles. It is depicting a scene from New Mexico in the 1820’s. The audience for this image would most likely be elementary to middle school aged children, especially young girls. Personally, I encountered this image in early elementary school, and it was the first timethat I was truly conscious of Latino culture in America. This serves to support the theory that the majority of people who view this image are young, school-age children. The first part of the image that the viewer’s eye looks to is the young girl, Josefina, smiling in the foreground of the illustration. The girl is wearing a white shirt and a red skirt, as well as a brightly patterned shawl thathangs loosely off her arms. These garments become “typical” clothes worn by a Latina to the young audience viewing the drawing. She carries with her a leather pouch on her belt, and more obviously, a pot with one hand on her head. The viewer sees a smiling girl who appears to be happy to be busy doing work outside of the adobe house in

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the background. This image projects, through hersmile, that working outside is pleasing and rewarding for this Latina body. The girl’s recognition of the viewer through her gaze is similar to the young princess’s gaze in “Las Meninas;” both appear to recognize that they are objects of fetishization. As the primary focus of the painting is on the princess, it is similarly on Josefina in this illustration. By Focault’s theory, the return of gaze inboth cases makes this fetishization satisfying because it is important for the “pet,” or object of desire, to tell the viewer what it is after the viewer tells it what it is (Focault, 5). In Josefina’s case, the spectator says she is a Latina. She can be perceived, by her smiling countenance, to be happy that she is being viewed and labeled as a Latina, both by the viewer and by the male figure onhorseback behind her. The second space that the viewer’s eye is attracted to is the man riding a horse behind the beaming girl. The man looks at the girl, but his expression is indistinct. The notion of looking versus not looking happens through his blank expression; he does not acknowledge the viewer through the position of his face, but rather seems interested in supervising those around him.His position on horseback places him above the females, small boy, and animals surrounding him; this portrays a masculinity and sense of power coming from the man. He wears a wide-brimmed hat as well. This is reminiscent of the bracero hat, which suggests that this man values and is involved in hard, physical labor. The physical position of this man, who appears to be authoritative within hissurroundings, illustrates Focault’s idea of a hierarchy of power. The viewer’s gaze is also directed towards the woman passing a basket to a young boy behind the smiling girl. Like the man, they do not have distinctly happy or sad facial expressions of any emotion. They, therefore, become blank slates onto which the viewer can project his or

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her expectations. Focault’s notion of telling the...