Embodying Latino Masculinities

Through explorations of six cases taken from various Latino ethnic groups, this book advances our understanding about meanings of Latino manhood and masculinities. The studies range from theatre and literature to men's activism and sports, showing how masculinities are embodied and performed.

“The greatest strength of Rudolph’s book lies in its archival selection and its marshaling of such a wide array of research on masculinity. … I would highly recommend Embodying Latino Masculinities: Producing Masculatinidad to those interested in groundbreaking scholarship intent on theorizing the embodiment and performance of Latino masculine identity. Rudolph’s Latino/a studies interventions and magnificent close readings combine to make this an outstanding text.” (Noel Zavala, Latino Studies, Vol. 12 (1), March, 2014)

"This rich, critical analysis of masculinity in the US Latino/a social, ethno-racial, and cultural contexts powerfully evinces how cultural texts (theater, media, autobiography, and fiction) and industries (such as baseball and reggaeton) reproduce, engage, and contest dominant constructions about Latino men. Most poignantly, Rudolph uses various case studies to identify the pain, anger, and emotional struggles that make Latino subjects male. The bodies, minds, and hearts of US Latino men are caught between the forces of capitalism, the language of media, and the communities that claim them as their own. The book contributes to new understandings of the intersections of Latinidad with gender, sexuality, and race through discourses about Latino male bodies." - Frances R. Aparicio, director, The Latina and Latino Studies Program, Northwestern University and author of Listening to Salsa

"Via a skillfully crafted and fascinating lens, Jennifer Domino Rudolph examines Latino masculinities in a variety of cultural texts and contexts from performances on stage to performances in the ballpark. Her conceptualization of masculatinidad helps us to understand how Latinos negotiate, embody, and reproduce masculinity and Latinidad in an increasingly complex world. She hits a homerun with this important contribution to gender and Latino studies." - Daniel Enrique Pérez, author of Rethinking Chicana/o and Latina/o Popular Culture

"The range of insights Rudolph brings to the topic of Latino masculinity is nothing short of magisterial and groundbreaking. Moreover, her original archive, compelling prose, and breathtaking close readings are sure to make it a widely discussed project." - Richard T. Rodriguez, associate professor of English and Latina/Latino Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and author of Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics

Jennifer Domino Rudolph is an assistant professor of Hispanic Studies at Connecticut College, USA.