El narcotraficante : narcocorridos and the construction of a cultural persona on the U.S.-Mexico border / Mark Cameron Edberg ; foreword by Howard Campbell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edberg, Mark Cameron, 1955-

Series:

Inter-America series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug traffic--Mexico.

Drug traffic.

Corridos.

Drug dealers.

Mexico.

Drug traffic--Mexico--Folklore.

Drug traffic--Mexico--Songs and music.

Drug dealers--Mexico--Folklore.

Drug dealers--Mexico--Songs and music.

Drugs in popular music.

Corridos--Mexico.

Mexican Americans in popular culture.

Mexico--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

Genre:

Songs and music.

Folklore.

Songs.

Music.

Physical Description:

xiv, 190 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2004.

Summary:

"This is a brilliant study on a subject that since the 1970s has riveted national and international attention: the exploits of those men and women who traffic in drugs. . . . The work is very original and offers new theoretical paradigms for both understanding the corrido as an artistic cultural form and understanding a people through this expressive artistic form."--Maria Herrera-Sobek, Acting Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Policy, University of California, Santa BarbaraSince the late 1970s, a new folk hero has risen to prominence in the U.S.-Mexico border region and beyond--the narcotrafficker. Celebrated in the narcocorrido, a current form of the traditional border song known as the corrido, narcotraffickers are often portrayed as larger-than-life "social bandits" who rise from poor or marginalized backgrounds to positions of power and wealth by operating outside the law and by living a life of excess, challenging authority (whether U.S. or Mexican), and flouting all risks, including death. This image, rooted in Mexican history, has been transformed and commodified by the music industry and by the drug trafficking industry itself into a potent and highly marketable product that has a broad appeal, particularly among those experiencing poverty and power disparities. At the same time, the transformation from folk hero to marketable product raises serious questions about characterizations of narcocorridos as "narratives of resistance." This multilayered ethnography takes a wide-ranging look at the persona of the narcotrafficker and how it has been shaped by Mexican border culture, socioeconomic and power disparities, and the transnational music industry. Mark Edberg begins byanalyzing how the narcocorrido emerged from and relates to the traditional corrido and its folk hero. Then, drawing upon interviews and participant-observation with corrido listening audiences in the border zone, as well as musicians and industry producers of narcocorridos, he elucidates how the persona of the narcotrafficker has been created, commodified, and enacted, and why this character resonates so strongly with people who are excluded from traditional power structures. Finally, he takes a look at the concept of the cultural persona itself and its role as both cultural representation and model for practice.

Contents:

Prologue: Narcocorridos and the Meaning of the Drug Trafficker Image on the U.S.-Mexico Border 1

1 Corridos, Cultural Representations, and Poverty 12

2 Investigating Narcocorridos and Their Meaning in the U.S.-Mexico Border Context 25

3 Interpreting Narcocorridos 47

4 Narcocorridos and the Cultural Persona of the Narcotrafficker 104

Appendix 1 Research Methodology and Sample Interview Guides 131

Appendix 2 Spanish Texts of Corridos and Narcocorridos 141.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-174) and index.

ISBN:

0292701829

029270206X

OCLC:

53830949

Online:

Publisher description