I will develop in this blog post my reaction to the text The Faces of Popular Culture, by William Rowe and Vivian Schelling.

The text describes exhaustively a large number of elements that the writer attributes to the popular culture of countries such as Mexico, Brasil, Chile, Argentina and those of the Andean region. Oral traditions (like duels of poets), literature (like the Literature of cordel), religion, carnivals, dances (like samba), television (with telenovelas) and sport (with football) are studied.

Though the exhaustiveness of this text allows us to have an idea of concrete examples of popular culture in Latin America, I think The Faces of Popular Culture is also useful in determining the ability of these elements to evolve and the factors of such change. The writers explain that, in a first time, it was a combination of native culture / African slaves’ culture and of the colons’ culture in some sort of equilibrium, with various interpretations sometimes possible at the same time. But regularly, William Rowe and Vivian Schelling elaborate on how urbanization and the rise of capitalist society disturbed the popular culture, in its form and in its goal.

I can develop the example of the folhetos studied in the text. Folhetos are books containing a story written in verse which were created in rural communities, having evolved from a tradition of oral poetry. In the past, they had a cheap, wooden cover and they never aimed at challenging the social order. But within a “modern” capitalistic culture, they are massively printed, with covers reminiscing of comic books, and criticize much more vigorously the conditions of the poor. Therefore, the folhetos are now “popular” because they are the product of a rural tradition and because they address the issues of the living condition of the working class or of the rural populations.

Finally, another point I found interesting was the relation between popular culture and mass culture / the culture industry. At one point, the writers explain there is a disagreement between scholars as to what this link is: are they opposed, are they the same thing, is one of them included in the other? I think Rowe and Schelling believe that mass culture is actually part of popular culture, without being its only form. Even if we find its products have less value compared to more traditional ones, they are consumed by millions and they can evolve to reflect the minds and the demands of the people.