La Carvento and the reinvention of Andalusian folklore from drag and cultural Andalusianism
Abstract
This article addresses contemporary drag performance practices that reinterpret and subvert the imaginary of Andalusian folklore, focusing on the production of Carlos Carvento. Through interviews and a combination of anthropological and cultural studies, it explores in a fragmentary way how drag performers challenge cultural and gender norms, and how their artistic expressions have evolved in Andalusia, shaping a queer folklore. This phenomenon develops in a context of the emergence of a third Andalusianism wave and cultural Andalusianism, political-artistic trends that seek to revalue Andalusian identity symbols and cultural expressions, breaking with their commercial or reactionary uses and contemporising them. Thus, the study contributes to the understanding of a transformative change in the region, revealing the vindictive capacity and cultural resistance of these actions, which rescue hidden traditions and narratives of the marginalized, such as those of the invisibilized folkloric transvestites.