This article examines the evolution of tequila’s reputation – from lowbrow to high class – in Mexico and the United States. Analyzing the content of novels, magazines, newspapers, ads, and song lyrics, it argues that the current cachet associated with tequila was influenced by a range of historical, political, and economic circumstances within and between Mexico and the United States. Specifically, transformations took place in three key phases including tequila’s: (1) increasing ties to national identity in Mexico; (2) changing perception – moving from feared to fun – in the United States; and (3) gaining of state-backed support and legislative protection. In explaining the shifting patterns of prestige, the roles of transnational circuits of consumption and production merit closer analysis in understanding the relations that shape cultural fields.

Focusing on two major strands of research on gender stratification, labor market inequality and health disparities, we argue that cisnormativity and heteronormativity obscure the rich variation in how people experience their own sense of gender and sexuality, as well as how others perceive them. Although researchers' reliance on static notions of gender and sexuality is starting to shift, there is room for improvement, especially in the area of gender inequality.To highlight the advancements in researchers' thinking, we spotlight exemplary work that incorporates gender expansive realities using empirically and/or theoretically grounded approaches. We conclude by outlining best practices to measure gender identity, sexual identity, gender expression, gender conformity, and other facets of gender and sexuality.

Although scholars agree that nationalism remains an important aspect of the new vocabulary of neoliberalism, little is known about how these discourses operate on the ground and in particular contexts. In this paper, we investigate how a specific adaption of national identity, one that underscores the values of cultural integrity, is used to naturalize neoliberal shifts in the tequila industry. Tequila has long circulated in the images and myths of Mexican identity. However, in the last two decades, the Mexican government has increasingly relied on tequila's reputation as the nation's 'spirit' to obscure changes in tequila regulatory policies that are linked to broader neoliberal changes in Mexico. Extralocal actors-in particular, multinational companies-have more influence over the direction the industry is taking and the institutions that regulate it, while tequila production is increasingly untethered from the communities and traditions that make it distinct. Here, we examine how private and public actors mobilize the language of authenticity, place, and quality to justify the adoption of neoliberal measures in the tequila industry.

While scholars agree that performances of authenticity and ethnicity express social relations and reveal the socially constructed character of identity, we know little about how these interactions contribute to the politics of everyday life. By engaging in participant observation, drawing on open-ended interviews, and analyzing the content of available data regarding restaurant culture, the author argues that the accomplishment of Mexican authenticity is a social construction. However, despite its socially created qualities, the author contends that performances of authenticity and ethnicity affect not only how individuals understand each other, but illustrate the challenges faced by different groups of people in the commercial production and consumption of identity. E xamining how individuals negotiate the social world and make sense of their experiences reveals not only how people understand each other, but illustrates how they view themselves in relation to those with whom they interact. Authenticity, as an index of these encounters, provides the opportunity to determine and communicate one's place as an individual in an increasingly global marketplace. While the search for authenticity highlights the desire for "genuine" forms of expression, it also calls attention to concerns regarding the interpretation and negotiation of contemporary , members of the Black Popular Culture reading group, and the Transnational Popular Cultures cluster of the Chicano/Latino Research Center for their advice and support throughout different stages of this project. I am also grateful to Dr. Scott Hunt and the anonymous reviewers for providing detailed suggestions that significantly improved the quality of this article.

The Mexican sport of charrería, or Mexican rodeo, developed in post-conquest Mexico as a way of preserving and celebrating traditional cowboy riding and livestock handling skills. Today, charrería is considered the national sport of Mexico and the charro (cowboy) is also a celebrated icon of Mexicanness. Special handcrafted ropes used in charrería, known as sogas finas, or charro lariats, are made from the fibers of the Agave inaequidens. The manufacture of charro ropes is an artisinal practice that requires both cultural and botanical knowlege. In the last ten years, there has been a significant decline in the A. inaequidens population in the Cerro Viejo mountain range of the central-western Mexican state of Jalisco, putting the financial wellbeing of local lariat artisans at risk. Drawing on fieldwork and laboratory analysis conducted from 2002 through 2010, we discuss the socio-cultural significance of charro lariats, detail the harvesting of A. inaequidens in relation to lariat craftsmanship, document the physical characteristics of the A. inaequidens from this region, and describe the relationship between traditional knowledge and the local economy. The goal of this research is two-fold: 1) to stimulate feedback between producers and consumers in an attempt to leverage the existing business cluster based on traditional knowledge and 2) to initiate dialogue concerning conservation, domestication, and sustainable management of the wild A. inadequidens population.