The Gran Poder of La Paz, Bolivia, and Other Tales of Ethnic Cross-Dressing

• Event Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
• Time: 3:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

David M. Guss
Professor of Anthropology, Tufts University

Much of the literature on festive behavior has stressed gender inversion and its ability to turn the world upside down. A more common practice in celebratory forms throughout the world, however, is that of ethnic cross-dressing. From simple blackface to the elaborate Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, ethnic cross-dressing is a varied and notoriously difficult practice to theorize. At times parodic and racist and at other times admiring and even aggrandizing, it is hard to reduce to a simple formula. This talk will use the Fiesta del Gran Poder as a lens through which to observe these complex practices. Rooted in this century's migration of rural Aymara to La Paz, The Fiesta del Gran Poder has become the largest urban indigenous celebration in the Americas. With its imported elements and dramatic manner of presentation, this festival has placed enormous importance on symbols of display such as banners, paintings, costumes, and masks. It has also served as a critical vehicle through which participants explore new identities in the often painful transition from country to city, indígena to mestizo, and campesino to middle class.

For more information about Spurlock Museum facilities or for other inquiries, contact Brian Cudiamat at (217) 333-0889.

Museum visitors are reminded that food and drinks are not allowed in the Museum. Backpacks and other large items brought to the Museum will have to be stored; there is limited locker storage space available for these items.