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ABSTRACT
This essay acknowledges the theoretical contributions, the perspective and the practices carried out by Jesús Martín-Barbero concerning the popular in connection with the cultural industry and the acknowledgment of what is our own in Latin America. Based on the Martin-Barberian concept of mass popular and without losing his contribution, a conceptual re-invention is suggested to report on the meaning of entertainment, coolture and celebrity citizenship that define mainstream pop in the XXI century. In this re-invention, it is suggested that popular is defined from the bastardization of mixing together the pop, the popular, the territorial and the ancestral.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The use of the word ‘bastardized’ in the essay is intentional, provocative, and crucial to understanding the work of Jesus Martín-Barbero around Latin American popular culture. Here, I use the word ‘bastardized’ to explore the fluid and ever-changing nature of Latin American cultural identity. While the term may be interpreted differently in different cultural contexts, particularly in the United States, it is important to contextualize its use in Latin America. In telenovelas, as the essay suggests, the theme of ‘bastardization’ is often explored through the unresolved tension between race, purity, and family structure, and is seen as both a criticism and a reflection of the complexities and contradictions of these norms. In this context, working with this term offers the possibility – or impossibility – to explore the mixture of cultural influences shaping the region and its people while challenging the notion – and provably unresolved genealogies – of fixed or pure identities. The term is intended to be thought-provoking, capturing the central themes of Martín-Barbero’s work and of Latin American popular culture more broadly. Ultimately, the concept of ‘bastardized’ popular culture offers a key to generatively explore Martín-Barbero’s work around Latin American identity and popular culture.
2 Quilombo: a confusing and messy situation.
3 Sancocho: a popular soup with a broth base that may contain beef, pork or fish and that incorporate potatoes, plantain and mandioca root.
4 Narco-novelas: television series about drug traffickers in the format of a telenovela.
5 Bio-novelas: biographies of famous people in the format of a telenovela.