Transpacific modernities: politics and popular culture in Mexico and the Philippines.

• In Event: Transpacific Cultures 1: comparative and transnational approaches to the cultures of Asia and the Americas.

Abstract

This presentation draws from a comparative study of entertainment television in Mexico and the Philippines to consider how the practices and industries of popular culture in both countries can be understood as parallel developments of a specific kind of postcolonial modernity. Among other elements, shared histories of Spanish colonial elite-mass relations, followed by deep commercial and cultural connections to the United States, have been key factors in shaping how popular culture and entertainment industries in both Mexico and the Philippines profoundly influence public life and political cultures. Drawing from theorists of both Latin America and Southeast Asia, as well as from the work of Gilroy and others on Transatlantic modernity, I suggest that television practices and industries offer a fruitful case study from which the nature and history of Transpacific modernities may be considered.

Author

• Anna Cristina Pertierra, University of Western Sydney