The Intellectual Impasse of Cultural Studies of the Media in Latin America: How to Move Forward

Abstract

This
paper
revisits
the
intellectual
development
of
cultural
studies
in
Latin
America
in
order
to
assess
current
challenges
and
identify
lines
of
research.
It
is
argued
that
much
of the literature has failed
to seriously consider key
points of cultural studies,
namely, the need to be critical
about
its own epistemological premises and the need
to
study
culture
within
broad
social
formations.
Since
the
landmark
studies
by
Néstor
García
Canclini
and
Jesús
Martín
Barbero
laid
the
foundations
in
the
1980s,
the
field
of
cultural
studies
has
generally
aimed
to
illustrate
original
arguments
instead
of
using
them
as
a
point
of
departure
to
analyze
media
and
cultural
phenomena.
Consequently,
many
scholars
have
produced
work
that
while
it
proves
and
illustrates
original
arguments
about
the
hybrid
nature
of
cultures
and
the
complexity
of
cultural
mediation,
it
does
not
push
the
field
in
new
theoretical
directions.
An
additional
problem
is
that,
often,
the
study
of
culture
has
been
divorced
from
a
close
inspection
of
the
linkages
between
cultural,
political,
and
economic
processes,
and
from
the
articulations
between
high
and
low
culture.
Consequently,
the
political
underpinnings
of
the
enterprise
of
cultural
studies,
as
outlined
by
Raymond
Williams
and
Stuart
Hall,
have
been
in
the
background.
This
choice
has,
arguably,
restrained
the
intellectual
development
and
undermined
the
potential
to
move
theory‐building
and
the
debate
forward.
Additionally,
the
disinterest
in
critically
exploring
theoretical
premises
has
diminished
the
potential
to
transcend
the
boundaries
of
” area
studies”
in
order
to
engage
with
the
study
of
media
and
culture
as
well
as
cultural
studies
globally.
The
paper
concludes
by
suggesting
research
directions
that
might
contribute
to
overcoming
the
current
intellectual
impasse.