A Mask Made of Metonyms: Racialized Masquerade

My contribution to the charged discourse of cultural appropriation seeks to contextualize its utilization in popular performances so casual in their production and consumption that they are often overlooked. In fact, their deceptively benign playfulness is what makes them remarkably effective in cementing a racialized repertoire that traverses cultural borders. This introduction serves as a foundation for thinking through what I define as “fannish” (affectively invested) behavior that motivates racialized embodiment. I anchor my project in the juxtaposition of two groups who employ what I identify as “playful racial masquerade” within the ludic space of short form dance: Filipinx and White North American fans of Korean and Japanese media. I illustrate how these fan performances not only “do” race from oppositional subject positionalities, but also how these embodiments—playful as they may be—reinforce uneven power dynamics as they are disseminated across new media platforms in the vehicle of bite-sized and easily reproduced short form dances. My dissertation project introduces the conceptual framework of racialized masquerade as a multifaceted performance. I argue that with (and without) corporeal bodies, the composed body in masquerade works as a piecemeal assemblage of racialized cosmetic and gestural metonyms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Performing and Media Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Performing and Media Arts

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Badique, Elissa

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Welker, Marina
• Campana, Andrew

• Filipino
• Gender
• K-pop
• New Media
• Race
• Whiteness

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/4pn4-mm75

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 15224
ProQuest Publication ID: 32170784

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/120741