Introduction: Latin American cultural and subaltern studies

Abstract

It is often assumed that the spread of cultural ideas in the South is analogous to the circulation of capital. Ideas are thought to arrive from the metropolitan centres delayed, if at all. Indeed, culture here does have its own temporality, and when ideas are imported from metropolitan centres they do at times sweep in, accompanied unexpectedly by trends long out of fashion at their site of origin, thus offering the uncanny feel of the Macarena with vocals by Ricky Martin.