Broader Contexts

An outpouring of memorial tributes and public expressions of grief followed the 1995 death of the Tejana recording artist Selena Quintanilla Prez. The Latina superstar was remembered and mourned in documentaries, magazines, Web sites, monuments, biographies, murals, look-alike contests, musicals, drag shows, and more. Calling these and other acts of mourning the slain star Selenidad, Deborah Paredez explores their significance and the broader meanings of remembering Selena. She considers the performers career and emergence as a posthumous icon within political and cultural transformations in the United States during the 1990s, the decade that witnessed a Latin explosion in culture and commerce alongside a resurgence of anti-immigrant discourse and policy. BookWoman, 5501 N. Lamar Blvd., #A-105. 7 P.M.