Centro Journal ISSN: 1538-6279
[email protected] The City University of New York Estados Unidos Lugo - Lugo, Carmen R . “Ricky Martin Ain’t No Dixie Chick”: Or, How We Can Learn A Few Things About Citizenship And Invisibility From Popular Culture Centro Journal, vol. XXIV, núm. 1, 2012, pp. 68-89 The City University of New York New York, Estados Unidos Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37730307004 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative 68 CENTRO JOURNAL volume xxiv • number i • spring 2012 “Ricky Martin Ain’t No Dixie Chick”: Or, How We Can Learn A Few Things About Citizenship And Invisibility From Popular Culture carmen r. lugo-lugo abstract In a San Juan, Puerto Rico, concert held in February 2007, the pop singer Ricky Martin made an obscene gesture with his finger while singing a line about having his picture taken with President Bush. This essay uses the backlash emanating from the gesture to illustrate a two-part argument: (1) after September 11, 2001, American citizenship (both political and cultural) became a tenuously tied to ideas about patriotism and non-immigrant status, and (2) patriotism was linked to an unyielding support for President Bush and his administration. We can see demarcations between notions of “the citizen” versus “the other” in United States mainstream discussions of the finger incident.