In this week’s episode, guest Bruno Guaraná discusses his article “Taís Araújo: The Black Helena against Brazil’s Whitening Television,” which traces key moments in the television career of one of Brazi’s most popular television celebrities Taís Araújo, including the several times she has been slated as “the first black protagonist” on different television shows. Guaraná argues that, against Brazilian television’s practices of whitening raced subjects and pushing forth a colorblind ideology, the construction of Araújo’s star image has ultimately turned her into a popular symbol of black female resistance.
Digital Altars and Migrant Death in Mexico (with Xiomara Cervantes-Gómez)
In this week’s episode, guest Xiomara Cervantes-Gómez discusses her article “Where Blackness Dies: The Aesthetics of a Massacre and the Violence of Remembering,” which analyzes the digital altar created to commemorate the lives of 72 Central American migrants massacred in Mexico in 2010. Cervantes-Gómez builds on this analysis to interrogate the sensationalist depictions of migrant death, the affordances and limitations of digital media for attending to the divine, and, ultimately, the politics of blackness in the context of Mexico and the American continent.
The Enduring Sentimiento of Chavela Vargas (with Lorena Alvarado)
In this week’s episode, guest Lorena Alvarado discusses her article “Never Late: Unwelcome Desires and Diasporas in Chavela Vargas’ Last Works” which analyzes how the last two albums of musical performer Chavela Vargas, Cupaima (2006) and ¡Por mi Culpa! (2010), continue making aesthetic choices that de-form the classic repertoire of rancheras and boleros. These musical works represent a “late style” formulated by an older subject that refuses to retire quietly and with docility. Alvarado argues that the mix of beloved, familiar lyrics and melodies with sonic details that evoke the experiences of migrants and Indigenous communities result in an unexpected, repellent musicality that speaks to the contemporary struggles of those unwelcome, despised, and outside neo-liberal chronology.
Translating Television in Latin America (with Laurena Bernabo)
In this week’s episode, guest Laurena Bernabo discusses her article “Progressive Television, Translation, and Globalization: The Case of Glee in Latin America” which analyzes the behind-the-scenes production process to dub the TV show Glee into Spanish for Latin American audiences. Bernabo demonstrates how managerial choices, talent availability, and narrative particularities shape the creative decisions for a show’s dubbing. In the specific case of Glee, these creative decisions significantly impact the translation of the show’s attempts at representing various identities, such as gender, race, and sexuality. Bernabo argues for the importance of studying production processes and translated texts together to account for how ideologically rich representations circulate across linguistic and national contexts.
Anime against Neoliberalism in Chile (with Camilo Diaz Pino)
In this week’s episode, guest Camilo Diaz Pino discusses his article “Weaponizing collective energy: Dragon Ball Z in the anti-neoliberal Chilean protest movement” which analyzes how the 2011 student-led protests in Chile borrowed icons from the popular anime show to foster a sense of collective struggle. The mobilization of the “genki dama” captured the need for solidarity among various protest groups as they fought the continued privatization of public services in the country. Diaz Pino argues that this case study illustrates the powerful influence of Japanese media in Latin America and the need to study transnational media flows that do not intersect with Anglo-American perspectives.
Zombies in Cuba (with Bianka Ballina)
In this week’s episode, guest Bianka Ballina discusses her article “Juan of the Dead: Anxious Consumption and Zombie Cinema in Cuba,” which analyzes the complex material and ideological transformations in Cuban film over the past two decades. Ballina argues that Alejandro Brugués’s film Juan de los muertos offers an opportunity to explore the circulation of anxieties around global consumption within the island. While the film contributes to the continued reformulation of Cuban and genre cinemas, it also reproduces conservative ideologies about race, gender, and sexuality in Cuba.
Global Media Cultures Podcast 