Colonial Legacies: The Impact of European Colonialism on National Identity in Latin American and Caribbean Pageants

Abstract

The Spanish colonization of Latin America began with Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Caribbean in 1492. Along with colonization, culture and traditions were penetrated. The first beauty pageant in Hispanic history was the Carnival Queens, where the most beautiful woman was crowned during the festival. Today, beauty contests in Latin American and Caribbean countries serve as major national entertainment events, comparable to the Super Bowl in the United States. While many scholars have observed the issues of sexism and racism within pageantry in North American countries, with Miss America receiving the most attention, those concepts have yet to be discovered within the realm of LAC. Furthermore, the reasons behind such an environment in local pageantries have remained uncovered. This paper will therefore take a historical approach to examine the impact of European colonialism on Latin American pageant competitions from the 1920s to the 2000s. This paper aims to investigate the intersection of beauty standards, national identity, gender roles, and colonial influences with pageantry, drawing on a range of historical records and scholarly critiques. It will demonstrate how European colonial legacies profoundly influenced the structure and objectives of pageant history, including notions of femininity, racial hierarchies, and beauty standards throughout Latin American nations. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of how colonialism continues to shape contemporary Latin American cultural practices, particularly in the context of beauty pageants.

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