Readings
what is culture?
Williams, Raymond. “Culture is Ordinary.” The Raymond Williams Reader. Ed. John Higgins. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. 10-24.
Keesing, Roger. “Theories of Culture Revisited.” Assessing Cultural Anthropology. Ed. Robert Borofsky. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. 301-312.
what is the people?
Perón, Evita. In My Own Words. Trans. Laura Dail. New York: New Press, 1996. 47-114.
Borges, Jorge Luis. “A Celebration of the Monster.” Trans. Alfred J. McAdam, Suzanne Jill Levine, and Emir Rodriguez Monegal. Borges, a Reader: A Selection from the Writings of Jorge Luis Borges. Ed. Emir Rodriguez Monegal and Alastair Reid. New York: Dutton, 1981. 202-210.
what is popular culture in Latin America?
Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling. “The Faces of Popular Culture.” Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Latin America. London: Verso, 1991. 49-150.
popular culture as folk culture
Asturias, Miguel Angel. “Legend of the Singing Tablets,” “Legend of the Crystal Mask,” “Legend of the Silent Bell,” and “Legend of the Dancing Butchers.” The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends. Trans. Gilbert Alter-Gilbert. Pittsburgh, PA: Latin American Literary Review Press, 1997. 81-126.
Arguedas, José María. “The Pongo’s Dream.” The Peru Reader. Ed. Orin Starn, Carlos Iván Degregori, and Robin Kirk. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995. 258-263.
theories of mixture I: mestizaje
Vasconcelos, José. The Cosmic Race. Trans. Didier T. Jaén. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. 1-40.
Wade, Peter. “Rethinking Mestizaje: Ideology and Lived Experience.” Journal of Latin American Studies 37 (2005): 239-257.
folk culture and modernity
Campbell, Bruce. Mexican Murals in Times of Crisis. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003. 3-72.
Taussig, Michael. “The Spirit Queen’s Court.” The Magic of the State. New York: Routledge, 1997. 1-86.
theories of mixture II: transculturation
Ortiz, Fernando. “On the Social Phenomenon of ‘Transculturation’ and its Importance in Cuba.” Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar. Trans. Harriet de Onís. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995. 97-103.
Cornejo Polar, Antonio. “Indigenismo and Heterogenous Literatures: Their Double Sociocultural Statute” and “Mestizaje, Transculturation, Heterogeneity.” The Latin American Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Ana del Sarto, Alicia Ríos, and Abril Trigo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004. 100-119.
Millington, Mark. “Transculturation: Contrapuntal Notes to Critical Orthodoxy.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 26.2 (2007): 256–268.
popular culture as mass culture
Bellos, Alex. Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. 43-145.
Hippolyte Ortega, Nelson. “Big Snakes on the Street and Never Ending Stories: The Case of Venezuelan Telenovelas.” Imagination Beyond Nation: Latin American Popular Culture. Ed. Eva P. Bueno and Terry Caesar. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. 64-80.
theories of mixture III: hybridity
García Canclini, Néstor. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Trans. Christopher L. Chiappari and Silvia L. López. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. 145-263.
the end of popular culture?
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo. “In Search of a New Topography.” Dangerous Border Crossers: The Artist Talks Back. London: Routledge, 2000. 221-227.
Beltrán, Mary C. “The Hollywood Latina Body as Site of Social Struggle: Media Constructions of Stardom and Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Cross-Over Butt.’” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 19.1 (2002): 71-86.
Velázquez, Patria Román. “The Embodiment of Salsa: Musicians, Instruments and the Performance of a Latin Style and Identity.” Popular Music 18.1 (January 1999): 115-131.
