Gender and Racial Masquerade: Female Body Performance on the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century Variety Stage

Kathleen M. Golden, Edinboro University of PA

Abstract

There were three women who were at the forefront of vaudeville's rise in popularity: May Irwin, Eva Tanguay, and Aida Overton Walker. These women represent, each in their own way, transformation and emergence of new gender and race roles in America. Irwin, Tanguay, and Walker developed individual styles of performance that both reinforced the accepted forms of discourse on the variety of stage, but also broke through barriers related to gender and race. Butler's (1997) work on performativity and her adoption of Austin's (1965) ideas on illocutionary and perlocutionary acts, and Bourdieu's (1991) concept of "social magic" inform this analysis.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

Volume

Issue

First Page

119

Last Page

134

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Golden, Kathleen M. (2007) "Gender and Racial Masquerade: Female Body Performance on the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century Variety Stage," Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 39: No. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol39/iss2/5

Copyright

Download

Comments?

COinS