Imagination Beyond Nation: Latin American Popular Culture (Pitt Latin American Series)

Can scholarly pursuit of soap operas and folk art actually reveal a national imagination? This innovative collection features studies of iconography in Mexico, telenovelas in Venezuela, drama in Chile, cinema in Brazil, comic strips and tango in Argentina, and ceramics in Peru. In examining these popular arts, the scholars gathered here ask the same broad questions: what precisely is a national culture at the level of the popular? The national idea in Latin America emerges from these pages as a problematic, divided one, worth sustained attention in the field of culture studies. Many different arts come forth in all their richness and vitality, compelling us to look, listen, and understand. The Politics Of The Popular In Latin American Popular Culture / Terry Caesar And Eva P. Bueno -- Gender, Ethnicity And Piety : The Case Of The China Poblana / Jeanne L. Gillespie -- Caipira Culture : The Politics Of Nation In Mazzaropi's Films / Eva P. Bueno -- Big Snakes On The Streets And Never Ending Stories : The Case Of Venezuelan Telenovelas / Nelson Hippolyte Oretga -- From Mafalda To Boogie : The City In Argentine Humor / Héctor D. Fernández L'hoeste -- Framing The Peruvian Cholo : Popular Art By Unpopular People / Milagros Zapata Swerdlow And David Swerdlow -- You're All Guilty : Lo Cubano In The Confession / James J. Pancrazio -- The Cueca Of The Last Judgment : Politics Of Chilean Resistance In Tres Marías Y Una Rosa / Oscar Lepeley -- Tango, Buenos Aies, Borges : Cultural Production And Urban Sexual Regulation / David William Foster -- Myth, Modernity, And Postmodern Tragedy In Walter Lima's The Dolphin / Jerrold Van Hoeg -- Useless Spaces Of The Feminine In Popular Culture : Like Water For Chocolate And The Silent War / Vincent Spina - Masculinities At The Margins : Representations Of The Malandro And The Pachuco / Simon Webb. Edited By Eva P. Bueno And Terry Caesar. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 289-304) And Index. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Politics of the Popular in Latin American Popular Culture 1 / Gender, Ethnicity and Piety: The Case of the China Poblana 2 / Caipira Culture: The Politics of Nation in Mazzaropi’s Films 3 / Big Snakes on the Streets and Never Ending Stories: The Case of Venezuelan Telenovelas 4 / From Mafalda to Boogie: The City and Argentine Humor 5 / Framing the Peruvian Cholo: Popular Art by Unpopular People 6 / You’re All Guilty: Lo Cubano in the Confession 7 / The Cueca of the Last Judgment: Politics of Chilean Resistance in Tres Marías y una Rosa 8 / Tango, Buenos Aires, Borges: Cultural Production and Urban Sexual Regulation 9 / Myth, Modernity, and Postmodern Tragedy in Walter Lima’s The Dolphin 10 / “Useless Spaces” of the Feminine in Popular Culture 11 / Masculinities at the Margins: Representations of the Malandro and the Pachuco Notes Bibliography Contributors Index Annotation Can scholarly pursuit of soap operas and folk art actually reveal a national imagination? This innovative collection features studies of iconography in Mexico, telenovelas in Venezuela, drama in Chile, cinema in Brazil, comic strips and tango in Argentina, and ceramics in Peru. In examining these popular arts, the scholars gathered here ask the same broad questions: what precisely is a national culture at the level of the popular? The national idea in Latin America emerges from these pages as a problematic, divided one, worth sustained attention in the field of culture studies How much does popular culture tell us about the country in which it is found? This collection of essays explores both the practices of popular culture in Latin America - from tangos to "telenovelas" - and the discipline that studies them. An exploration in verse of rites of passage within the Cuban-American culture shows how a combined nostalgia for a lost world and a daily confrontation with American culture leads to self-awareness