The Marvelous Mexican American Carpas

In this chapter, I apply Juana María Rodríguez&s;s concept of discursive spaces to explore the political and class implications of musical variety by Mexican and Mexican American clowns. This chapter&s;s central focus is the Mexican carpa , or tent show, tours that were immensely popular among, and seriously necessary for, working-class Mexican and Mexican American audiences. With documented roots as far back as the pre-encounter era, the Mexican carpas became a hotbed of political and humorous performances of working-class Mexicanidad , Chineseness, Blackness, and US Americanness. Departing from the content of the other three chapters, the case studies here include some textual analyses of the performances in las carpas while still prioritizing the performance of those elements. Case studies: the Barranco Brothers, the Carpa Cubana, agringado joking and chistes colorados , and the Mexican zarzuela Chin-Chun-Chan