ABSTRACT
'Hispanic' is one of five ethnic labels adopted by the North American Office of Budget and Management in the late 1970s that, together with other widely generic terms seem to separate neatly the citizens of the USA on a racial basis. The generic terms are 'white', 'black', 'Asian or Pacific' or 'American Indian/Alaskan Native'. This chapter examines each of the stages of Madonna's Hispanic explorations, from mere flirting with Latino men, to an arguable involvement in Latino/Spanish culture, and a fetishization of and dissociation from the Spanish Other to their culmination in her role as perhaps the most famous and powerful Hispanic female icon of all times, Eva Peron. One cannot help but wonder the extent to which Hispanic identity is part of Madonna's attraction to Eva Peron. Finally, Madonna's changing ethnic identities can also be read as a reflection of her own problematic relationship with the USA.
