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DePaul University

As above, so between: configuring Miss Lala as a mixed race subject

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Elizabeth Fei situates Miss Lala, the subject of Degas’ “Miss Lala at the Cirque Fernando” painting to recenter Lala’s racially mixed body as a crucial site for understanding how discourses of race and gender manifested then and continue to manifest. Using images, articles, and recollections of her act, Fei recovers Lala’s subjectivity by drawing on three main aspects of Lala’s identity: her black womanhood, her circus performances, and her multiraciality. Fei contends that to configure Lala as a mixed race figure allows for all of the possible ways she might have identified to emerge as it is dexterous and adjustable by nature. This exercise, she argues, primes us for the work needed in scholarship activism.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Critical Ethnic Studies
Year dc:date.available
2017

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Fei, Elizabeth

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/238
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:via.library.depaul.edu:etd-1243

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
DePaul University
Base URL
via.library.depaul.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Fei, Elizabeth. As above, so between: configuring Miss Lala as a mixed race subject. Thesis thesis, 2017. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/238