“This is America. We speak English”: “Americans” Discourse around Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance

• In Event: Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 5. Boundaries & Crime

Abstract

This paper uses Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance as a case study to examine the reactionary racial project that sought to stabilize “American” identity as white and English-speaking. Drawing on racial formation theory, this study conceptualizes the Super Bowl as a national ritual and racial project through which Americanness is produced, contested, and policed. Using grounded theory and discourse analysis, we analyzed 750 posts on X collected between February 8 and February 15 to identify conversations about his performance. We identify three dominant themes: “This is America,” “UnAmerican,” and “Love and Unity,” demonstrating how high-profile cultural spectacles become key sites where the meaning of American culture is negotiated and defined.

Authors

• Brianna Jones-Williams, University of Cincinnati

• Martha Karinna Ramirez, University of Cincinnati