Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
General Introduction / Abril Trigo 1
I. Forerunners Introduction / Alicia Rios
Traditions and Fractures in Latin American Cultural Studies 15
Literature and Underdevelopment / Antonio Candido 35
Excerpts from The Americas and Civilization: “Evolutionary Acceleration and Historical Incorporation, “The Genuine and the Spurious,” and “National Ethnic Typology” / Darcy Ribeiro 58
Caliban: Notes Toward a Discussion of Culture in Our Americas/Roberto Fernandez Retamar 83
Indigenismo and Heterogeneous Literatures: Their Double Sociocultural Statute / Antonio Cornejo Polar 100
Mestizaje, Transculturation, Heterogeneity / Antonio Cornejo Polar 116
Literature and Culture / Angel Rama 120
II. Foundations Introduction / Ana Del Sarto
The 1980s: Foundations of Latin American Cultural Studies 153
Plotting Women: Popular Narratives for Women in the United States and Latin America / Jean Franco 183
Would So Many Millions of People Not End Up Speaking English? The North American Culture and Mexico / Carlos Monsivais 203
Brazilian Culture: Nationalism by Elimination / Roberto Schwarz 233
Intellectuals: Scission or Mimesis? / Beatriz Sarlo 250
The Movable Center: Geographical Discourses and Territoriality During the Expansion of the Spanish Empire / Walter Mignolo 262
Notes on Modernity and Postmodernity in Latin American Culture / Jose Joaquin Brunner 291
A Nocturnal Map to Explore a New Field / Jesus Martin-Barbero 310
Cultural Studies from the 1980s-1990s: Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives in Latin America / Nestor Garcia Canclini 329
III. Practices Introduction / Abril Trigo
The 1990s: Practices and Polemics within Latin American Cultural Studies 347
Political Disenfranchisement / Irene Silverblatt 375
On Citizenship: The Grammatology of the Body-Politic / Beatriz Gonzalez Stephan 384
Male Hybrids in the World of Soccer / Eduardo Archetti 406
The Past as the Future: A Reactive Utopia in Buenos Aires / Adrian Corelik and Graciela Silvestri 427
Tears and Desire: Women and Melodrama in the “Old” Mexican Cinema / Ana M. Lopez 441
The Unbearable Lightness of History: Bestseller Scripts for Our Times / Francine Masiello 459
Legitimacy and Lifestyles / Renato Ortiz 474
The Transnational Making of Representations of Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture: Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations at the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival / Daniel Mato 498
The Production of Local Public Spheres: Community Radio Stations / Gustavo A. Remedi 513
Mimicry and the Uncanny in Caribbean Discourse / Romn De La Campa 535
Of Zapatismo: Reflections on the Folkloric and the Impossible in Subaltern Insurrection / John Rabasa 561
Tentative Exchanges: Tijuana Prostitutes and Their Clients / Debra A. Castillo, Maria Gudelia Rangel, Gomez and Armando Rosas Solis 584
The Latino Imaginary: Meanings of Community and Identity / Juan Flores 606
IV. Positions and Polemics
Writing in Reverse: On the Project of Latin American Subaltern Studies Group / John Beverly 623
The Boom of the Subaltern / Mabel Morana 643
Latin American Intellectuals in a Post-Hegemonic Era / George Yudice 655
Local/Global Latin Americanisms: “Theoretical Babbling” apropos Roberto Fernandez Retamar / Hugo Achugar 669
Intersecting Latin America with Latin Americanism: Academic Knowledge, Theoretical Practice, and Cultural Criticism / Nelly Richard 686
Irruption and Conservation: Some Conditions of Latin Americanist Critique / Alberto Moreiras 706
The Cultural Studies Movement and Latin America: An Overview / Neil Larsen 728
Hybridity in a Transnational Frame: Latin Americanist and Postcolonial Perspectives on Cultural Studies / John Kraniauskas 736
Mestizaje and Hybridity: The Risk of Metaphors--Notes / Antonio Cornejo Polar 760
Works Cited 765
Acknowledgments of Copyrights 805
Index 811

Promotional Information

Essays by intellectuals and specialists in Latin American cultural studies that provide a comprehensive view of the specific problems, topics, and methodologies of the field vis-a-vis British and U.S. cultural studies

About the Author

Ana Del Sarto is Assistant Professor of Latin American Cultures and Literatures at Bowling Green State University.

Alicia Ríos is Associate Professor of Latin American Literature at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Abril Trigo is Associate Professor of Latin American Cultures at The Ohio State University.

Reviews

"[An] important book. . . . This will be a useful tool for Latin Americanists and others in cognate fields of the humanities."
--Forum for Modern Language Studies

"[A] most competent text. . . . [B]ears witness to the complexities and intricacies of Latin American cultural studies. . . . I wish this volume had been available in my graduate years."
--Hector Fernandez L'Hoeste," The Americas"

"[A]n indispensable reference and teaching tool for Latin Americanists in the humanities. . . . Highly recommended."
--David R. Thompson," Choice"

"[I]mpressive. . . . The Latin American Studies Reader . . . contains . . . a rich variety of texts and bibliography. . . . [T]his volume, with its three informative and intelligent introductory essays, represents a landmark in the history of critical thought about Latin America."
--Sara Castro-Klaren, Modern Language Notes

"That ["The Latin American Cultural Studies Reader"] brilliantly delivers on [its] ambitious goal testifies to the breadth, vision, and rigor of its editors. . . . "The Latin American Cultural Studies Reader" will serve as an insightful, balanced, indispensable guide to a hard-to-define, much contested, interdisciplinary field. . . . [S]cholars across . . . academic disciplines will be referencing this book and assigning it to graduate seminars for some years to come. More important still, coming at a crisis point in cultural studies in general, it should help reinvigorate a field worn down by more than a decade of academic culture wars and internal squabbles."
--Robert Buffington," Journal of Latin American Anthropology"