Technological Cultures and Social Inclusion in Latin America

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

The mythic, phantasmagoric and magical qualities of Latin American popular culture have always been tied up with the technological. The heteroglossic voices of the peoples and multitudes of the region have long deployed the latest technologies of the time – photography, radio, sewing machines, photocopiers, camcorders, smartphones, etc. – as part of constantly evolving forms of cultural self-expression and political intervention.

In recent decades the forces of Latin American popular culture have had even greater access to digital technologies in particular, a shift that has allowed individuals and groups greater autonomy over not just the content but also the means of self-expression. With technological globalization has come the opportunity for nonterritorial, cross-regional alliances that have made it difficult for nation states to rein in the political freedoms released by the very technologies promoted by late capitalism. And yet technological capabilities in the region are still unequal, and while some states have used technology to promote social inclusion, others have wielded it as part of their material and immaterial structures of power.

This roundtable will address some of these tensions by referring to both historical and contemporary examples of the relationship between technology and popular culture in Latin America. It will ask whether particular technological cultures have reinforced national identities or encouraged the formation of transnational identities; whether technological cultures can exist outside neocolonial and/or corporate control; and, ultimately, whether the changes in the relationship between technology and culture in the move from modernity to postmodernity has fomented or hindered inclusivity.

Sub Track

• Mass Media and Popular Culture

Session Organizer

• James Scorer, University of Manchester

Chair

• Dylon L Robbins, New York University

Discussant

• Jon P Beasley-Murray, University of British Columbia

Presenters

• Alejandra M Bronfman, University at Albany, SUNY

• Maite Conde, University of Cambridge

• Javier E Garcia-Liendo, Washington University in Saint Louis

• Ignacio A Aguiló, University of Manchester