Mexico & More
“Generation Z”
"Young, Sexy, and Transnational in Mexico and Brazil: Commodifying the Generation X in Antonio Serrano’s Sexo, pudor y lágrimas and Its Film Versions" "South of the US–Mexico border, the Generation X label is not used popularly, especially in the field of cultural production. Chilean writer Alberto Fuguet (b. 1964), generally associated with Generation X, declared back in 1994 that the term was too “manoseado” [hackneyed] (García). In Latin America, the moniker has been relegated to the contexts of marketing and advertising, and dismissed by cultural critics as another manifestation of American cultural imperialism. Most of the discussions about Generation X in Latin America did not happen until well advanced the first decade of the new century, and they are taking place online, mainly in digital magazines, websites for market research companies, and blogs specializing on marketing or human resources. However, we can affirm that there is a Latin American Generation X cultural sensibility as strong and heterogeneous as its American counterpart. Thus, it is necessary that critical attention be allocated to the Gen Xers’ cultural production in the 1990s and the new millennium to start acknowledging and understanding the contributions and identity politics of this generation in the region. Latin American authors, performers, musicians, and directors are exploring themes and embracing aesthetics that could be linked to Generation X: the new millennium cinemas in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico (Beale; Preston); many of the playwrights around the Nuevo Teatro Mexicano, with similar promotions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, among other countries; the new Latin American narrative by authors born in the 1960s, like the literary group of the Crack Generation in Mexico (Poniatowska), or those included in the transnational McOndo anthology of new Hispanic narrative edited by Chileans Alberto Fuguet and Sergio Gómez (LaForte; León); and punk or rock bands like Los Argies and Los Fabulosos Cadillac in Argentina, Legião Urbana and Plebe Rude in Brazil, or the Mexican bands Maná, La Maldita Vecindad, and Molotov. In a significant proportion, these cultural producers delve into thematic common denominators: urban dynamics and the city; search for identity in a postmodern, globalized world; the abandonment of the modernist project of the nation; the effects of consumerism and neoliberal economic policies; the presence of transnational or foreign characters in the main narrative; the impact on everyday life of American pop culture and goods; a strong interest in people’s relation to media, advertising, and technology; and, the loss of faith in all institutions. Some of the aesthetic traits and styles include: the fusion or blurring of genres; the parody or questioning of canonical discourses; the use of black humor or cold, jocular detachment in the performance of violence (e.g., tarantinoesque violence); the incorporation of the aesthetics of comics or other avant-pop artifacts." ~ William García, Excerpt from Generation X Goes Global William García. Associate Professor of Spanish and Latin American & Caribbean Studies at Union College, New York, where he has directed the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program (1999-2006). He received his B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). Professor García has published several articles on Latin American theatre and Caribbean literature in various journals and edited collections. He is currently working on a manuscript project on queer identities and agency in Latin America. IS MAGIC REALISM DEAD?
Now, thanks to Fuguet and his peers, there is a new voice south of the Rio Grande. It is savvy, street-smart, sometimes wiseass and un-ashamedly over the top. Fuguet calls this the voice of McOndo--a blend of McDonald's, Macintosh computers and condos. The label is a spoof, of course, not only on Garcia Marquez's fictitious village but also on all the poseurs who have turned these latitudes into a pastel tequila ad. ¡Hola! Fuguet is saying. Latin America is no paradise. The new genre was born in 1996 with a collection of short stories by 18 authors, all under 35, called "McOndo." The book was launched, somewhat ironically, at a party at a McDonald's in Santiago, where Fuguet and coeditor Sergio Gomez signed copies to the sound of Friolators. The tales are irreverent, often aggressive, scatological riffs on contemporary urban life, told to a backbeat of sex, drugs and pop music. The mood swings from hallucinatory to suicidal, with a heavy emphasis on the blasé.” (Margolis, Mac. “Is Magic Realism Dead?” Newsweek May 6, 2002. May 29, 2009.) |
Miss Bala (2011), dir. Gerardo Naranjo (b. 1971)
Dust to Dust (2000), dir. Juan Carlos de Llaca (b. 1962)
Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991), dir. Alfonso Cuarón (b. 1961)
* 25 Watts (2001), dirs. Juan Pablo Rebella (1974-2006) & Pablo Stoll (b. 1974) Uruguay Don’t Tell Anyone (Peru, 1998) by Francisco J. Lombardi
* Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes (1998), dir. Adrián Caetano (b. 1969)
Nicotine (Mexico, 2003) by Hugo Rodríguez
|
"From Generation X to Generation @:
Transitional Traces and Youth Identities in Latin America"
In Latin America the Zapatist revolt emerged in Chiapas in January 1994 under the lea" dership of a seasoned student leader who was keeping up with new technologies and was followed by a group of indigenous young people. The movement was later supported by urban and university youth in Mexico and in other countries of the subcontinent and ended up gaining the sympathy of young people from many other countries who adopted it as their “generational revolution” (in the same way that the Cuban or the Sandinista revolutions were emblems for other generations). This revolt demonstrated the potential of the young who joined it. Without prior thought, they started the first global mobilization by using the Internet like never before. The Zapatista revolt used new technologies, rather than arms, to spread their slogans. What some people called “the first postmodern guerrilla” became a generational reference for those who had entered youth with the fall of the Berlin wall.[i]
In Latin America, this end of the century generation—commonly known as Generation X—was referred to as “Generation Z,” a generational identity inspired by the first letter of the Zapatist movement. Although Douglas Coupland popularized the term “Generation X” in 1991 to refer to young people marked by the uncertainties and paradoxes of postmodern society and by the lack of a solid set of values, the label also started being used in the second half of the decade to describe new young movements that appeared in Latin America, coinciding with the emergence of youth cultures as the central node of Latin American cultural studies, as discussed effectively by García Canclini.
[i] In 1999, in Seattle, the decade finished with a protest against a meeting of the world economic powers. That revolt was carried out by the Global Resistance Movement. Paradoxically enough, the “anti-globalists” were the first to use new global technologies, in particular the Internet, leading some authors to refer to them as “web movements.
[. . .]
For different reasons, Generation X and its transition into Generation @ got caught between the two times outlined in the metaphor of the analogic and the digital clock. The X generation was entering youth as Internet was emerging (second half of the nineties), while Generation @ was just being born. When we take into account the technological gap in Latin America, the bondings (a kind of superimposition of time layers that configure certain subjectivities of youth) we mentioned earlier appear. Both Generation X and Generation @ were defined for contexts different from the Latin American one, and they respond to cultural and historical brands that are specific to their countries of origin (mainly the United States, western and developed countries). However, we suggest that the analytical categories (like generation) may be useful as departure points for a rational and critical discussion based on the empirical evidence of every social and cultural context. We present the portrait of five emerging youth actors in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century, fruit of field research spanning the two centuries, in two geographically opposed countries in the region (Mexico and Chile): indigenous, rural, students, trendsetters and digital youth. These groups show the diversity of young people that compose the Latin American generations. Our objective is to emphasize the existence of different components that mark these youth groups (interculturality, inequality) and the tensions and contradictions that exist among them (global/local, modernity/posmodernity) through several case studies."
~ Carles Feixa, Maricela Portillo, Maritza Urteaga, Yanko González and Oscar Aguilera,
Excerpt from Generation X Goes Global
Carles Feixa. Teaches at the University of Lleida. He has been a visiting scholar at universities in Rome, Mexico, Paris, California at Berkeley, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and Newcastle. He has conducted fieldwork in Spain and Latin America. He is the author of several books like De jóvenes, bandas y tribus (Barcelona, 1998), Jovens na America Latina (São Paulo, 2004), and Global Youth? (2006). He is coeditor of the journal Young (London/Delhi) and member of the international board of Nueva Antropología (México), Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud (Colombia), Mondi Migranti (Milano), and Analise Social (Lisboa), among others. He has been advisor for youth policies of the United Nations and Vice President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee Sociology of Youth.
Transitional Traces and Youth Identities in Latin America"
In Latin America the Zapatist revolt emerged in Chiapas in January 1994 under the lea" dership of a seasoned student leader who was keeping up with new technologies and was followed by a group of indigenous young people. The movement was later supported by urban and university youth in Mexico and in other countries of the subcontinent and ended up gaining the sympathy of young people from many other countries who adopted it as their “generational revolution” (in the same way that the Cuban or the Sandinista revolutions were emblems for other generations). This revolt demonstrated the potential of the young who joined it. Without prior thought, they started the first global mobilization by using the Internet like never before. The Zapatista revolt used new technologies, rather than arms, to spread their slogans. What some people called “the first postmodern guerrilla” became a generational reference for those who had entered youth with the fall of the Berlin wall.[i]
In Latin America, this end of the century generation—commonly known as Generation X—was referred to as “Generation Z,” a generational identity inspired by the first letter of the Zapatist movement. Although Douglas Coupland popularized the term “Generation X” in 1991 to refer to young people marked by the uncertainties and paradoxes of postmodern society and by the lack of a solid set of values, the label also started being used in the second half of the decade to describe new young movements that appeared in Latin America, coinciding with the emergence of youth cultures as the central node of Latin American cultural studies, as discussed effectively by García Canclini.
[i] In 1999, in Seattle, the decade finished with a protest against a meeting of the world economic powers. That revolt was carried out by the Global Resistance Movement. Paradoxically enough, the “anti-globalists” were the first to use new global technologies, in particular the Internet, leading some authors to refer to them as “web movements.
[. . .]
For different reasons, Generation X and its transition into Generation @ got caught between the two times outlined in the metaphor of the analogic and the digital clock. The X generation was entering youth as Internet was emerging (second half of the nineties), while Generation @ was just being born. When we take into account the technological gap in Latin America, the bondings (a kind of superimposition of time layers that configure certain subjectivities of youth) we mentioned earlier appear. Both Generation X and Generation @ were defined for contexts different from the Latin American one, and they respond to cultural and historical brands that are specific to their countries of origin (mainly the United States, western and developed countries). However, we suggest that the analytical categories (like generation) may be useful as departure points for a rational and critical discussion based on the empirical evidence of every social and cultural context. We present the portrait of five emerging youth actors in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century, fruit of field research spanning the two centuries, in two geographically opposed countries in the region (Mexico and Chile): indigenous, rural, students, trendsetters and digital youth. These groups show the diversity of young people that compose the Latin American generations. Our objective is to emphasize the existence of different components that mark these youth groups (interculturality, inequality) and the tensions and contradictions that exist among them (global/local, modernity/posmodernity) through several case studies."
~ Carles Feixa, Maricela Portillo, Maritza Urteaga, Yanko González and Oscar Aguilera,
Excerpt from Generation X Goes Global
Carles Feixa. Teaches at the University of Lleida. He has been a visiting scholar at universities in Rome, Mexico, Paris, California at Berkeley, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and Newcastle. He has conducted fieldwork in Spain and Latin America. He is the author of several books like De jóvenes, bandas y tribus (Barcelona, 1998), Jovens na America Latina (São Paulo, 2004), and Global Youth? (2006). He is coeditor of the journal Young (London/Delhi) and member of the international board of Nueva Antropología (México), Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud (Colombia), Mondi Migranti (Milano), and Analise Social (Lisboa), among others. He has been advisor for youth policies of the United Nations and Vice President of the International Sociological Association Research Committee Sociology of Youth.
For Further Reading:
Aguilera, Oscar. “Cultura política y política de las culturas juveniles.” Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana 15. 50 July-Sept. (2010): 91-102. Print.
Alberoni, Francesco. Movimiento e Institución. Teoría general. Editorial Nacional: Madrid, 1984. Print.
AMIPCI. Informe Anual sobre Internet en México. México: Asociación Mexicana de Internet, 2010. Print.
Appadurai, Arjun. Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. Print.
Boyd-Barret, Oliver. “International Communications and Globalization: Contradictions and Directions.” International Communication and Globalization. London and New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1997: 11-26. Print.
Chonchol, Jaques. Sistemas Agrarios en América Latina. De la etapa prehispánica a la modernización conservadora. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996. Print.
De Certeau, Michelle. La toma de la palabra y otros escritos políticos. México, D.F: Universidad Iberoamericana, 1995. Print.
De la Maza, Gonzalo. Situación socioeconómica y cultural de los jóvenes temporeros de la VI región. Santiago de Chile: Instituto Nacional de la Juventud, 1998. Print.
Díaz, Cecilia. & Durán, Esteban. Los jóvenes de campo chileno: una identidad fragmentada. Santiago: GIA, 1986. Print.
Escalante, Yuri. La exclusión indígena de la membresía urbana. N.d. Web. Nov. 12, 2005. <http://www.indigenasdf.org.mx/convivencia.php>
Feixa, Carles and González, Yanko “The Socio-Cultural Construction of Youth in Latin America: Achievements and Failures.” Contemporary Youth Research: Local Expressions and Global Connections. Ed. G. Holm & H. Helve. London: Ashgate, 2003. Print.
Feixa, Carles & González, Yanko. “Territorios baldíos: identidades juveniles indígenas y rurales en América Latina.” Papers. Revista de Sociología 79 (2006):171-93. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Más allá de la Generación X.” Topodrilo 44 Jan-Feb. (1997): 8-13. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Generación @. La juventud en la era digital.” Nómadas, Bogotá (Colombia) 13 (2000): 76-91. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Generation @. Youth in the Digital Era.” Whose Culture is it? Trans-generational Approaches to Culture. Ed. D. Dodd. Budapest: The Budapest Observatory, 2005: 3-18. Print.
Gama, Federico. Mazahuacholoskatopunk. México: Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud, 2009. Print.
García Canclini, Néstor. Diferentes, desiguales y desconectados. Mapas de la interculturalidad. Barcelona: Gedisa, 2004. Print.
García Márquez, Gabriel. “Entrevista al Subcomandante Marcos.” El País International March 24, 2001: 5. Print.
González, Yanko. “Juventud rural: Trayectorias teóricas y dilemas identitarios.” Nueva Antropología México DF, 19.63 (2003): 153-75. Print.
González, Yanko. Óxidos de identidad: Memoria y juventud rural en el sur de Chile (1935-2003). PhD. Dissertation. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, 2004.
Hannerz, Ulf. Conexiones trasnacionales. Cultura, gente, lugares Valencia: Cátedra, 1998. Print.
INEGI. Censo 2010. México: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática, 2011. Print.
Lechner, Norbert. Cultura política y democratización. Buenos Aires: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO),1988. Print.
Martín-Barbero, Jesús. “Jóvenes: des-orden cultural y palimpsestos de identidad”. ‘Viviendo a toda’. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades .Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C Laverde, & C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Fundación Universidad Central. 1998: 22-37. Print.
Mora, Teresa. “La etnografía de los grupos originarios y los inmigrantes indígenas de la ciudad de México.” Ciudad, Pueblos Indígenas y Etnicidad. Ed. Yanes, P., Molina, and V. & O. González. N.d. 2004. Web. May 9th, 2006. <http://www.equidad.df.gob.mx/libros/indigenas/seminario_permanente_2004.pdf>.
Ortega, Enedina & Ricaurte, Paola. “Jóvenes nativos digitales: mitos sobre la competencia tecnológica.” Diario de Campo México, 106 (2011): 40-49. Print.
Pérez Ruiz, Maya Lorena. Jóvenes indígenas y globalización en América Latina. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 2008. Print.
Portillo, Maricela. Usos y apropiaciones tecnológicas de los estudiantes universitarios mexicanos. Bogotá: Asociación Latinoamericana de Investigadores de la Comunicación (ALAIC), 2010. Print.
Reguillo, Rossana. “El año dos mil, ética, política y estéticas: Imaginarios, adscripciones y prácticas juveniles.” Viviendo a toda. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades. Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C. Laverde, and C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre Editores, 1998: 57-82. Print.
Rosaldo, Renato. Cultura y verdad. Nueva propuesta de análisis social. México: Grijalbo & CNCA, 1991. Print.
Sánchez Chávez, José Angel. Jóvenes, identidades migrantes, subcultura y performance. Degree Dissertation. Chapingo – Estado de México, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, 2009.
Urteaga, Maritza. La construcción juvenil de la realidad. Jóvenes mexicanos contemporáneos. México: Juan Pablos y Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2011. Print.
Urteaga, Maritza. “Jóvenes e indios en el México contemporáneo.” Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud. Bogotá (Colombia) 6 (2) (2008): 667–708. Print.
Valenzuela, José Manuel. “Identidades juveniles.” Viviendo a toda. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades. Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C. Laverde, and C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre Editores, 1998. 38-45. Print.
Aguilera, Oscar. “Cultura política y política de las culturas juveniles.” Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana 15. 50 July-Sept. (2010): 91-102. Print.
Alberoni, Francesco. Movimiento e Institución. Teoría general. Editorial Nacional: Madrid, 1984. Print.
AMIPCI. Informe Anual sobre Internet en México. México: Asociación Mexicana de Internet, 2010. Print.
Appadurai, Arjun. Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. Print.
Boyd-Barret, Oliver. “International Communications and Globalization: Contradictions and Directions.” International Communication and Globalization. London and New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1997: 11-26. Print.
Chonchol, Jaques. Sistemas Agrarios en América Latina. De la etapa prehispánica a la modernización conservadora. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996. Print.
De Certeau, Michelle. La toma de la palabra y otros escritos políticos. México, D.F: Universidad Iberoamericana, 1995. Print.
De la Maza, Gonzalo. Situación socioeconómica y cultural de los jóvenes temporeros de la VI región. Santiago de Chile: Instituto Nacional de la Juventud, 1998. Print.
Díaz, Cecilia. & Durán, Esteban. Los jóvenes de campo chileno: una identidad fragmentada. Santiago: GIA, 1986. Print.
Escalante, Yuri. La exclusión indígena de la membresía urbana. N.d. Web. Nov. 12, 2005. <http://www.indigenasdf.org.mx/convivencia.php>
Feixa, Carles and González, Yanko “The Socio-Cultural Construction of Youth in Latin America: Achievements and Failures.” Contemporary Youth Research: Local Expressions and Global Connections. Ed. G. Holm & H. Helve. London: Ashgate, 2003. Print.
Feixa, Carles & González, Yanko. “Territorios baldíos: identidades juveniles indígenas y rurales en América Latina.” Papers. Revista de Sociología 79 (2006):171-93. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Más allá de la Generación X.” Topodrilo 44 Jan-Feb. (1997): 8-13. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Generación @. La juventud en la era digital.” Nómadas, Bogotá (Colombia) 13 (2000): 76-91. Print.
Feixa, Carles. “Generation @. Youth in the Digital Era.” Whose Culture is it? Trans-generational Approaches to Culture. Ed. D. Dodd. Budapest: The Budapest Observatory, 2005: 3-18. Print.
Gama, Federico. Mazahuacholoskatopunk. México: Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud, 2009. Print.
García Canclini, Néstor. Diferentes, desiguales y desconectados. Mapas de la interculturalidad. Barcelona: Gedisa, 2004. Print.
García Márquez, Gabriel. “Entrevista al Subcomandante Marcos.” El País International March 24, 2001: 5. Print.
González, Yanko. “Juventud rural: Trayectorias teóricas y dilemas identitarios.” Nueva Antropología México DF, 19.63 (2003): 153-75. Print.
González, Yanko. Óxidos de identidad: Memoria y juventud rural en el sur de Chile (1935-2003). PhD. Dissertation. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, 2004.
Hannerz, Ulf. Conexiones trasnacionales. Cultura, gente, lugares Valencia: Cátedra, 1998. Print.
INEGI. Censo 2010. México: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática, 2011. Print.
Lechner, Norbert. Cultura política y democratización. Buenos Aires: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO),1988. Print.
Martín-Barbero, Jesús. “Jóvenes: des-orden cultural y palimpsestos de identidad”. ‘Viviendo a toda’. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades .Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C Laverde, & C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Fundación Universidad Central. 1998: 22-37. Print.
Mora, Teresa. “La etnografía de los grupos originarios y los inmigrantes indígenas de la ciudad de México.” Ciudad, Pueblos Indígenas y Etnicidad. Ed. Yanes, P., Molina, and V. & O. González. N.d. 2004. Web. May 9th, 2006. <http://www.equidad.df.gob.mx/libros/indigenas/seminario_permanente_2004.pdf>.
Ortega, Enedina & Ricaurte, Paola. “Jóvenes nativos digitales: mitos sobre la competencia tecnológica.” Diario de Campo México, 106 (2011): 40-49. Print.
Pérez Ruiz, Maya Lorena. Jóvenes indígenas y globalización en América Latina. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 2008. Print.
Portillo, Maricela. Usos y apropiaciones tecnológicas de los estudiantes universitarios mexicanos. Bogotá: Asociación Latinoamericana de Investigadores de la Comunicación (ALAIC), 2010. Print.
Reguillo, Rossana. “El año dos mil, ética, política y estéticas: Imaginarios, adscripciones y prácticas juveniles.” Viviendo a toda. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades. Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C. Laverde, and C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre Editores, 1998: 57-82. Print.
Rosaldo, Renato. Cultura y verdad. Nueva propuesta de análisis social. México: Grijalbo & CNCA, 1991. Print.
Sánchez Chávez, José Angel. Jóvenes, identidades migrantes, subcultura y performance. Degree Dissertation. Chapingo – Estado de México, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, 2009.
Urteaga, Maritza. La construcción juvenil de la realidad. Jóvenes mexicanos contemporáneos. México: Juan Pablos y Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2011. Print.
Urteaga, Maritza. “Jóvenes e indios en el México contemporáneo.” Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud. Bogotá (Colombia) 6 (2) (2008): 667–708. Print.
Valenzuela, José Manuel. “Identidades juveniles.” Viviendo a toda. Jóvenes, territorios culturales y nuevas sensibilidades. Ed. H. J. Cubides, M. C. Laverde, and C. E. Valderrama. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre Editores, 1998. 38-45. Print.