Forming Latin-America's cultural industries: scenes of continental reinvention

Abstract

This project aims to discuss the formation and development of scenes (GOMES, 2008) to cultural industries in Latin America nowadays. The cultural industries will be evaluated beyond the limits set by Theodore Adorno, who considered that the comercialization and consumption of art would forcely be associated to the objectives and circuits of capital, reducing its critical impact. According to Adorno, cultural industry would be just a reinforcement to economical and political forces through an esthetical project: the best example would be found in north american cultural products (as the american movies) and its influence around the world. In this project, we believe that cultural industries are being multiplied, diversified and are including new agents. We take as a starting point the social and economical transformations brought by globalization, provocking significant alterations in the ways that Latin America is represented and produced culturally. The uses of a nationalistic culture matrix that vigorated in Latin America as strategical ideology are now relatively weakened, opening way to new representations, made by new social groups, with different objectives and resources. Besides, the technological inovations and the transformation in the relations of power have new lines of action as consequences. We believe that space is particularly important in the creation of these new cultural industries. Different agents are producing cultural industries in Latin America through music, cinema, handcraft art, museums, heritage, etnics, culinary, cultural policies etc., always worring about reffering them to a spatial basis, local and social life and a particular economic circuit. Among other exemples, we could find the town and cities conserved by heritage policies (Cuzco, São Miguel das Missões), the support of handcraft art (indumentary), the cultural policies of MERCOSUL, the difusion of caribean musics and the latin soap-operas and the territorial autonomy in indigenous reserves in Bolivia and Equador. (AU)