This course investigates how, within the history of Latino/a racial formation in the United States, popular performance has emerged as an essential and recurrent site of cultural encounter. As we chart the panethnic construction of U.S. Latina/o cultural identity in the 20th century, we will investigate the myriad ways that popular performance — or theatre, film, television and live expressive culture — mediates the exchange between “Latin” performances and variously “American” audiences. We will consider a wide array of popular performances; assess the ways such performances have staged shifting perceptions and presumptions about Latinas/os in the United States; and evince how those performances have contributed to broader discourses of race, identity, culture and nation. Our readings will draw from historical, literary and theoretical texts and we will engage a broad range of musical, cinematic and theatrical performances through written texts, recordings and live enactments.