In your transcultural analysis paper you will take an element of Latin American popular culture and do a 3-5 page analysis of its hybrid or transcultural elements (double-spaced).  You are free to choose any form of mass cultural expression including but not limited to folk art and craft, street art installations, graffiti, popular music, film, TV series’, performed literature or public ritual.  These can come from any country or culture in Latin America, including US and Canadian Hispanic groups and should be from the 20th or 21st Century.  In your discussion you should mention what cultural forms the work in question “borrows” and “adapts”, as well as the aesthetic effect of this composition.   You may also include a comment on the political intention or effect of this cultural “borrowing”, with some reference to either Barthes theories on ‘tropes’ as elements that construct hegemonic myths, or Gramsci’s theories on hegemony, resistance and incorporation. (see the Hebdige reading for more on these two).  However this is not obligatory.

Secondary sources aren’t obligatory, however you should refer to the context of the work as well as the theory of transculturation you are using.  (Canclini, Ortiz or Cornejo’s version). Citations can be in any of the “big three” formats (MLA, APA or Chicago) and please be consistent.

This paper is due Friday, February 9th at 11:59 PM via e-mail.  My e-mail address is barbara.fraser@ubc.ca Please submit the paper either as a PDF or MSWord document and use your first and last name as the filename.