Critical and Cultural Theory

Enclosed is the syllabus and course notes from the upper division course I teach in PostModernism and Post-Marxist Critical Theory. It occurs to me that some of these essays--ranging from Horkheimer and Adorno, Baudrillard, Foucault, and the feminist post-modern theorist Donna Haraway may offer some insight and some tools for comprehending the dark times in which we live. While these essays may not be directly aimed at understanding the rise of phenomena like the Alt-Right, toxic masculinity, and particularly violent forms of patriarchy, I think they can show us something about the ideological trends that set us on out current morally troubling path.

There are more types of borders today than ever before in history. Borders of all kinds define every aspect of social life in the twenty-first century. From the biometric data that divides the smallest aspects of our bodies to the aerial drones that patrol the immense expanse of our domestic and international airspace, we are defined by borders. They can no longer simply be understood as the geographical divisions between nation-states. Today, their form and function has become too complex, too hybrid. What we need now is a theory of the border that can make sense of this hybridity across multiple domains of social life.

Rather than viewing borders as the result or outcome of pre-established social entities like states, Thomas Nail reinterprets social history from the perspective of the continual and constitutive movement of the borders that organize and divide society in the first place. Societies and states are the products of bordering, Nail argues, not the other way around. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework "kinopolitics" to several major historical border regimes (fences, walls, cells, and checkpoints), Theory of the Border pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

This course provides an overview of social justice theories in communication studies. As a discipline, communication draws from theories across the social sciences, humanities, and philosophy, leading to an eclectic mix of theory that is taken and applied to communicative issues. To get a foothold in communication theory, then, requires reading primary texts from outside the field, as well as applications of those texts within the field. Therefore, this course endeavors to provide a basis in critical theories of communication by connecting foundational theoretical readings with their use in critical/cultural studies of communication.

Social justice work in communication is intimately concerned with power. As such, we will be exploring how different scholars have conceptualized power inequities since what is often dubbed “the critical turn” in our field. Students will leave the class equipped with multiple theoretical lenses through which to investigate communicative issues of power, control, inequality, and oppression in our society. These theories will also provide the means to think through how communication can help us to build coalitions and relations that move social structures toward equality, justice, and liberation.

Eighteenth-century Britain saw the emergence of a new poetic genre, the “work” poem which took various forms of labor as its subject and was often written by laborers themselves. Several of these working class poets found their lives transformed due to the success of their verse (Stephen Duck most famously), but most faded into literary obscurity. However, a substantial body of “work” poems was produced by a diverse group of poets throughout the century, each manifesting divergent concerns and attitudes about the experience of work. This chapter assesses the formal connections uniting this poetic genre, particularly the frequent use of such literary devices as ironic distancing, litotes, and mock-georgic description. Instead of solely classifying “work” poems on the basis of their subject matter, this chapter demonstrates that such poetry (indeed the genre itself) lends itself to sophisticated literary techniques often associated with other poetic genres. In this fashion the full measure of eighteenth-century working class poetry can be evaluated more fairly, particularly by analyzing the formation of a new genre designed expressly by the poets themselves. The chapter ultimately seeks to demonstrate the connectedness, rather than the alienation, of working class poetry to the eighteenth-century British poetic tradition.

"Re-imagining 21st century education is ambitious, an ambition born of a sadness as I reflect on a book written 30 years ago.  And I shall of course fall far short of the ambition.  Just to reiterate again the question raised in the invitation to this talk.

What sort of educational vision and practice may be fostered to underpin a new world where people matter?

This is an age-old question.  Its origins is in the idea of the good society that has long been the object of philosophical and political debate. So, specifically we can ask, what sort of education does a vision of the good society demand?  And how should schools be organised to lay a foundation for the realisation of this vision?
"

Hansen (2012b) responds to the author's critique of his humanistic vision by dividing their arguments as either individual or cultural in design. In this reply, the author contends that the individual cannot be extracted from her or his culture and, therefore, what is sufficient for a humanistic counseling culture must also be sufficient for each individual inspired by humanism.

Environmental racism typically describes how people of color are excessively affected by environmental damage and racially driven environmental policies and practices. Those wielding power can, intentionally or unintentionally, promote public and private environmental initiatives that negatively impact some people and communities over others. Effects include health-related disparities resulting from increased exposure to contaminants and pollution, spatializing practices, and political alienation. As a broad and diverse activist movement that inserts social justice into traditional environmentalism, environmental justice exposes and eliminates harmful and discriminatory environmental practices, shifts the burden of proof, and holds offenders accountable.

Quote from the review:
"As well as giving complex accounts of embodied subjectivity through emphasis on intersectional analysis, the second Reader makes evident how transgender studies has moved beyond poststructuralist perspectives on gendered embodiment, which is a shift that is in line with emerging themes and conceptual developments in feminist, queer and gender studies more generally. However, as the articles do not follow a specific theoretical shift, this move is not made normative. Instead the anthology as a whole oscillates between different perspectives and concepts. It should, moreover, be mentioned that the articles overall are written by authors who do remarkable, thorough and sound theoretical and empirical work. While most of the texts are new, there are also some classical texts that have been published previously. On the  whole, Transgender Studies Reader 2 demonstrates the maturation and expansion of the field, at the same time as it shows the importance of previous work."

These poems, composed in Somali and in English, provide a poetic reflection of the recently emerged debate on the theme of Caddaan Studies which means "White Studies". The criticism and counter-criticism contained in the debate dug so deep into life nerve of Somali Studies that over a thousand people participated. The poems, under the title "Inaugurating Caddaan Studies" were composed with a critical observation of the debate.

During and prior to World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army forced thousands of women into sexual slavery. Known as “comfort women,” many of them were just teenagers, atrociously abducted and kept in military brothels called the “comfort stations,” where Japanese soldiers physically abused, raped, and dehumanized them on a regular basis. Many of the women lost their lives. Some survived the atrocities yet struggled their entire lives with post-traumatic (physical and mental) issues, combined with complete cultural marginalization and social amnesia about their experiences. In a new article published in 2020 in NCA’s Quarterly Journal of Speech, Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager & Minkyung Kim challenge the lack of communication about the phenomenon, and apply “invitational rhetoric” to a documentary film and three memorials honoring comfort women. They consider what it would mean for the public to accept the “invitation” to understand these women’s experiences. The project was researched and written in hopes of bringing justice to the victims of one of the most controversial human rights violations that still remains unresolved.

Series • Studies in Literature and Science This book investigates the relationships between modern mathematics and science (in particular, quantum mechanics) and the mode of theorizing that Arkady Plotnitsky defines as "nonclassical" and identifies in the work of Bohr, Heisenberg, Lacan, and Derrida. Plotnitsky argues that their scientific and philosophical works radically redefined the nature and scope of our knowledge. Building upon their ideas, the book finds a new, nonclassical character in the "dream of great interconnections" Bohr described, thereby engaging with recent debates about the "two cultures" (the humanities and the sciences). Plotnitsky highlights those points at which the known gives way to the unknown (and unknowable). These points are significant, he argues, because they push the boundaries of thought and challenge the boundaries of disciplinarity. One of the book's most interesting observations is that key figures in science, in order to push toward a framing of the unknown, actually retreated into a conservative disciplinarity. Plotnitsky's informed, interdisciplinary approach is more productive than the disparaging attacks on postmodernism or scientism that have hitherto characterized this discourse.

This paper / article presents a brief discussion on contemporary ‘artists citizens’. It will examine the public life, and the political activity in particular (vita activa), of the critical cultural worker in neoliberal capitalist society. Here, a critical cultural worker – theoretician, artist, curator, journal editor, cultural producer, etc. –means the one who wants and tries to be political. Through discussing her dubious politicality, I aim here to unpack a tension between the work and the politics in today’s society. In addition, assuming that most citizens today are workers themselves I would propose a few thoughts on what the politics today could be and how it could look like once we recognize its classical definition as socially and historically inadequate.

Keywords: cultural worker, labor, politics, politicality, vita activa, precarization, Post-Fordism, knowledge production, complicity, community

Special Evolutionary Issue of the online journal Politics and Culture. Edited by Joseph Carroll.

http://politicsandculture.org/2010/04/28/contents-2/

27 essays organized under five headings: (1) The Evolutionary Turn in Psychology and the Humanities; (2) Politics and Ethics; (3) Religion; (4) Literature; and (5) music.

Also, a symposium on the question "How is art biological," with commentaries by seven scholars and with responses from various contributors to each of the commentaries.

Jacques Derrida, Qué hacer con la pregunta "Qué hacer". 2. El epígrafe, ¿adentro o afuera del corpus? Si permanece adentro, si su lugar es el corpus, no quedaría más que concederle un lugar especial; como una voz un poco salida fuera de sí o como otro lugar de la misma voz. Otra versión de la misma voz si se quiere, pero cuya versión no permitiría que el corpus de lugar a un simple desdoblamiento. Por esta otra versión, el corpus adquiriría mayor volumen espacial y tonal. Mayor espacio, mayor tonalidad, por las cuales el corpus tendría como un aval dentro de sí. Pero ¿puede un misma cosa ser aval de sí misma? Ahora bien, si el epígrafe permanece afuera del corpus, habría que reconocerle su incorporación, su comunicación estrecha sino íntima con un corpus que no le es ajeno; un epígrafe podría tener una relación de afinidad o de amistad, de contradicción o de conflicto con un corpus; pero en cualquier caso nunca dejaría de tener una relación con él. De esta manera, el corpus podría asegurarse de tener un buen respaldo para sus intereses, un aval autónomo por el cual sería capaz de capitalizarse. Nada de rara la relación entre el caput, el capital, la cabeza y el corpus. Relación exterior sin duda, pero ¿afuera? Hay cierta indecidibilidad en esto del epígrafe. Como si el epígrafe no tuviera un lugar específico, un topos propio o apropiado, un domicilio fijo donde ser hallado o buscado. Ni adentro ni afuera. Adentro y afuera. ¿Cómo decidir su lugar? ¿No se necesita un corpus acaso, uno distinto de aquel por el cual se origina este problema? Y si se recurre a este otro corpus, ¿no se habría decidido ya una situación que el nuevo corpus volvería a restablecer? ¿Cómo decidir allí cuando el lugar de la decisión es de nuevo aplazado por su repetibilidad y equivalencia? Y allí donde, además de esta indecidibilidad sobre la pertenencia del epígrafe, que, como se verá, comprometerá también la cuestión de su pertinencia histórica, política, ética, estética, epistemológica etc., etc., ¿qué acontecería si el epígrafe no señalara más que el nombre propio o la firma de su cita, sin señalar, sin registrar su lugar de proveniencia, el topos bibliográfico, el archivo, el terreno, la geografía, la fosa, el domicilio, o en fin, cualquier lugar en el cual poder ser hallado? ¿No se convertiría la cuestión del lugar en una de las cuestiones quizá más apremiantes, más urgentes, si bien la que plantea más dificultades? En efecto, doble cuestión del lugar, doble dificultad de hallar el lugar del epígrafe, doble dificultad para decidir si el epígrafe tiene o no lugar. Por un lado, el epígrafe es y no es a la vez el corpus; 2 por otro lado, y al mismo tiempo, el epígrafe tiene firma pero no lugar, o más exactamente, tiene un lugar pero prestado. Doble escena de la desaparición y de la pérdida. Doble escena por la cual la indecidibilidad o da origen a una decisión sin origen como puro venir, o da origen al préstamo de lugar como redoblamiento de la falta de lugar o de la pérdida. Préstamo o cobertura. En todo caso, escena de la desaparición. Escena en la cual la desaparición entra en escena, y mientras entra, un corpus parece comenzar a tener lugar. Mientras esto sucede, el nombre propio persiste como cuerpo o resto, como huella cortante de un volumen cuya progresiva visibilidad promociona al mismo tiempo su desaparición. Iván Trujillo, El trabajo de la pérdida. 3. "Un día, de golpe, tantos de nosotros perdimos la palabra, perdimos totalmente la palabra. Otros en cambio -fuerza o debilidad-(se) perdieron esa pérdida: pudieron seguir hablando, escribiendo, y, si cambio de contenido, sin embargo, ningún cambio de ritmo en su hablar, en su escritura. Destino, esa pérdida total fue nuestra única posibilidad, nuestra única oportunidad. Así, y dejando a un lado ese concepto tan limitado de generación, ausencia de pensamiento, pues es necesario aquí hablar con rigor, la realidad produjo una nueva escena de escritura. Escena que teóricamente así se define: abandono de la problemática del sujeto, trabajo en la cuestión de los nombres; y porque escena, ningún logos, doctrina o razón -o peor: una "personalidad"-que la domine; toda diferencia en las voces de la escena, cuestión sólo de ritmo, de fuerza-este libro, por ejemplo, no hubiera sido posible -hubiera sido otrosin "las palabras que me faltan" de la Devoción de Anteparaíso". Patricio Marchant, Sobre Árboles y Madres. 4. ¿Es preciso darse la pérdida? ¿No viene ella sola, sin que se la llame o invoque? Y si es preciso dársela ¿cómo dársela a uno mismo y sobrevivir? Por lo demás, ¿para qué darse la pérdida si ella es la que se da? ¿No deberíamos, por el contrario, hacer todo lo posible por evitarla, por esquivarla mientras viene, mientras llega o se da? Y si ella se da siempre, por ejemplo, en lo que llamamos usualmente la muerte, ¿para qué añadir y añadirse a su sobreabundancia? ¿No deberíamos, por el contrario, economizar al máximo su movimiento, su gasto excesivo y así capitalizar el tiempo que ella todavía no aniquila? Por otra parte ¿cómo darse la pérdida si la pérdida no puede tener relación, no puede entrar en relación, con el don? Cuando la pérdida se da, ya nada se puede dar, nada, ni siquiera el don. La pérdida entonces, en rigor, no se da nunca, no tiene tiempo para darse. El darse de la pérdida no dejaría tiempo para el don. A no ser que el don sólo se pueda dar sin presente (Derrida), tal que no dándose en el tiempo, dándose sin tiempo (referido al presente), dé (el) tiempo. Y, sin embargo, la pérdida se da. Hay pérdida. Lo sabemos. ¿Por qué entonces pensar la pérdida? ¿Para qué? ¿Por qué relacionar pérdida y pensamiento? ¿Pueden acaso entrar en relación? Y en el caso en que puedan entrar en relación ¿quién de los dos pide, plantea o reclama la relación? ¿Puede haber acaso un momento, un hecho, un tiempo común a la pérdida y al pensamiento? Si así fuese, entre el pensamiento y la pérdida habría una intimidad siempre previa donde ninguno invita a dialogar al otro. Esta intimidad previa no tendría que ser necesariamente trascendental, no sería apriori, sino histórica; histórica de una manera tal que aunque cobijada por dicha

Until 1993 there were conducted first excavations in what promised to be the site of one of the most important buildings of Petra, the stunning capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Its construction, whose initiation century BC, several changes, reconstructions and landslides along its more than five hundred years of operation. But despite this still unknown for certain functions for which it was designed and that, regardless of the construction elements, materials have been located just still less inscriptions that shed some light on a mystery that will try here exhibit various theories that enable closer to resolution.

Tzvetan Todorovs "Introduction a la litterature fantastique" (1970, dt. 1972) hat sich trotz aller Kritik in der akademischen Diskussion als der folgenreichste Text zur Bestimmung des Phantastischen in der Literatur erwiesen. Obgleich bald weitere impulsgebende Publikationen auch in deutscher Sprache folgten, ist die Phantastik ein Stiefkind der deutschsprachigen Literaturwissenschaft geblieben, versehen mit dem Odor des Trivialen. In diesem Sinne versucht die vorliegende Aufsatzsammlung, die Theoriebildung über Todorov hinaus konsequent und vorurteilslos voranzutreiben. Als Beiträger konnten namhafte internationale Phantastik-Experten aus Germanistik, Anglistik, Slawistik, Romanistik und anderen Fächern gewonnen werden: H.R. Brittnacher, R. Innerhofer, R. Lachmann, C. Ruthner u.a. Sie entwickeln aus verschiedenen, interdisziplinären Blickwinkeln heraus Phantastik-Theorien, die auch für die "Neophantastik" des 20. Jahrhunderts Gültigkeit beanspruchen dürfen. Alle präsentierten Theoriemodelle werden an einem Referenzkorpus phantastischer "Klassiker" (Hoffmann, Puschkin, H. James, Maupassant, Kafka und Borges) exemplifiziert. >> INHALTSVERZEICHNIS

Resumen.
En este trabajo, se presenta una reflexión teórica en torno a los retos metodológicos
en el estudio de sociedades donde la diferencia étnica y cultural es la condición
intrínseca y donde diferentes lógicas de transformación coexisten de manera tensa,
contradictoria y mutuamente constitutiva. El argumento central gira en torno a la
necesidad de que la mirada histórica se distancie de sus propios esquemas del
cambio, a fin de aproximarse a contextos donde la variabilidad cultural es simultánea
en el tiempo y en el espacio. Se hará énfasis sobre la mirada de la múltiple alteridad
hacia el mundo del analista, la variación en el tiempo, las diferencias de otros
tiempos y otros espacios y las multiplicidades culturales solapadas en los mismos tiempos y espacios. Asimismo, se argumentará en pro de la relevancia de las
relaciones mutuamente dependientes, pero con horizontes contradictorios de estos
universos multiculturales, a fin de superar los obstáculos epistemológicos de la
Historia Unilineal.
Palabras clave: miradas analíticas, crítica cultural, sociedades multiétnicas

Abstract.
This article presents a theoretical reflection around the methodological challenges in
the study of societies where ethnic and cultural differences are intrinsic conditions,
and where different logics of transformation coexist in a tense, contradictory, and
mutually constitutive way. The main argument sustains that the historical glance
must create a distance from its own schemes of change to approach to contexts
where cultural variability is simultaneous in time and space. The main emphasis will
be on the multiple otherness towards the analyst’s world of reference, the variability
of time, the differences in other times and other spaces, as well as the overlapping
between cultural multiplicities in the same times and spaces. In addition, there will
be an argument in favour of the the relevance of the relations mutually dependants,
but with contradictory horizons between different multicultural universes, to go
beyond the epistemological obstacles of Unilinear History.

Keywords: analytical approaches, cultural critics, multiethnic societies.

There has been a continuous attack on education, particularly alternative, progressive, democratic and liberatory forms of education that seek social justice and an equality of opportunity for all to develop.  In the UK this has led to an attack on educators as 'the enemies of promise' by the Secretary of State for Education.  However, what is being proposed by policy makers are the old 'know your station in life' strategies of managing inequality.  These have always resulted in a violation of the intelligence of people.

A study of the limits of multilingual literary expression in print culture. Beginning with the insight that multilingual literature defies simple translation, Brian Lennon examines the resistance multilingual literature offers to book publication. Looking closely at the limit of multilingual literary expression and the literary journalism, criticism, and scholarship that comments on multilingual work, In Babel’s Shadow presents a critical reflection on the fate of literature in a world gripped by the crisis of globalization.

Abstract:   
The English version of this paper can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2439772

French Abstract: Notes sur le livre de Michel Foucault 'L'Ordre du discours', sa leçon inaugurale au Collège de France le 2 décembre 1970. La leçon esquisse l'approche de Foucault à l'étude de l'idéologie, les institutions, et les phénomènes culturels, et bien sûr à l'étude des discours qui les articulent. Ces notes fournissent une contextualisation critique de l'approche de Foucault et établissent des relations entre sa perspective et celle d'autres théoriciens de la culture contemporains.

English Abstract: Notes on Michel Foucault's book 'L'Ordre du discours' ('The Order of Discourse'), an inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, given on Dec. 2, 1970. The lecture sketches out Foucault's approach to the study of ideology, institutions, and cultural phenomena, as well as to the study of the discourses which articulate them. These notes provide a critical contextualization of Foucault's approach and relate his work to that of other contemporary cultural theorists.

RESUMO: A proposta deste artigo é discutir o uso termo " literatura indígena " como forma de referência à contemporânea produção autoral ameríndia brasileira. A visão da tradição ocidental sobre o que é texto, escrita e literatura negligenciou toda uma gama de sistemas gráficos e as formas de narrar dos ameríndios, silenciando tais modalidades discursivas pelo simples fato de serem diferentes do que era então normatizado e consagrado pelo padrão e gosto europeu. Parte-se de uma perspectiva crítica e de uma revisão bibliográfica, amparada nos estudos culturais e nas epistemologias do Sul, no sentido de promover um debate de ideias a respeito da possibilidade de pensar uma corrente literária indígena brasileira. Serão discutidos uma suposta essência do termo literatura, a historicidade da construção do termo, assim como a projeção política da literatura indígena, destacando dessa forma, sua legitimidade enquanto movimento literário. Espera-se com este artigo contribuir para a visibilidade da literatura indígena como um veículo para o fortalecimento identitário e a configuração política do movimento. ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use term "indigenous literature" as a form of reference to contemporary Brazilian Amerindian authorial production. The vision of the Western tradition of what is text, writing and literature has neglected a whole range of graphics systems and ways of narrating the Amerindians, silencing such discursive modalities for the simple fact that they are different from what was then standardized and consecrated by the standard and taste European. From a critical thinking standpoint and a literature review, based on cultural studies and epistemologies of the South, to promote a discussion about the possibility of thinking a Brazilian indigenous literary movement. Discussed a supposed essence of the term literature, the historicity of the construction of the term, as well as the political projection of indigenous literature, highlighting thus their legitimacy as a literary movement. It is hoped that this article contribute to the visibility of indigenous literature as a vehicle for identity and strengthening the movement's political configuration.

This paper discusses the critical gameplay design project and its newest developments. After being exhibited in five national and international venues in 2009--2010, the project has been reconstituted with 3 new games that critique specific aspects of standard gameplay. This short paper reflects on the experience of the exhibition and the design heuristics gathered from them. The paper discusses the three axes of creating Critical Gameplay Games, content, process and scale. It is provided as a resource for researchers making polemic games, including but not limited to persuasive games, advergames, and critical gameplay. It is also useful to people involved in game jams or other intensive, time restricted game-making activities.

The critical boundary that comes into play between indigenous-specific research and western disciplines centers on the question of ontology. In its simplest expression, the western ontological narrative traces a journey of separation and a teleological struggle for masteryconcerning domain. When it comes to indigenous ontologies there is no separation. What I’m drawing attention to is how particular conceptual positions developed within western ontological understandings become clearly problematic when placed in relation with indigenous understandings.

Der 2004 verstorbene Judaistik-Professor Hyam Maccoby liefert in seinem Werk eine „anthropologische“ (Maccoby 2019, 177) Analyse der Entstehung des Antisemitismus. Der anthropologische Zugang, so Maccoby, befasst sich mit Mythen und Bräuchen vornehmlich vormoderner Gesellschaften in vergleichender Perspektive. Im Zentrum stehen dabei Opferkulte und Kastenstrukturen, die herangezogen werden, um die Spezifik der Judenfeindschaft zu untersuchen. Die vergleichende Perspektive führt Maccoby dazu, gegen postkoloniale Nivellierungen oder bloße Xenophobie-Theorien (177, 219), die Spezifik des Antisemitismus herauszuarbeiten, die ihm zufolge in der einmaligen Kombination auch anderweitig anzutreffender Elemente besteht, nämlich des bestimmten Usurpationsmythos einer siegreichen Mehrheit, eines theologisch-gesellschaftlich begründeten Pariastatus einer Minderheit und des Mythos vom „Heiligen Henker“. (216)

In this essay, we advance the Critical Media Effects (CME) framework as a way of bridging two major subfields of communication that seldom speak to one another: media effects scholarship and critical cultural communication. Critical Media Effects is situated within the dominant mode of social scientific theorizing within media effects scholarship and draws on four key interrelated concepts from critical cultural communication: power, intersectionality, context, and agency. Critical Media Effects advocates for greater reflexivity, rigor, and nuance in theorizing about media effects to better respond to the complexity and dynamicity of emerging global sociopolitical mediated contexts. Recommendations, salient examples, and future directions for co-creating a shared research roadmap for CME are discussed. Through this work of bridging, we hope to promote more collaborative partnerships, productive engagement , and mutual solidarity across these two important subfields to address the most pressing social issues and challenges of the world today.

As recentes mudanças ocorridas no mercado fonográfico, especialmente a partir do desenvolvimento e popularização da internet, mudaram substancialmente os modelos vigentes de negócio envolvendo a música. Do antigo modelo guiado pelas grandes gravadoras, passamos a um novo momento, ainda repleto de incertezas, porém, que reformula todo o cenário e abre uma gama de possibilidades para os músicos que estão fora do grande circuito, principalmente a partir dos variados canais de comunicação disponibilizados na rede via novas plataformas de mídia. A visão de músicos que estão se construindo a partir dessas ferramentas, assim como a visão da própria indústria fonográfica, nos mostra o que está em jogo com essas mudanças, que, entre outras coisas podemos destacar: readequação de todo o sistema sociocultural envolvendo a cadeia produtiva e a indústria cultural vigente e reformulação das discussões em torno da economia e da produção cultural, o que muitas vezes acaba por desembocar numa nova abordagem sobre os Estudos Culturais e a crítica cultural contemporânea.

1. La notion de kitsch est tellement liée à celle de culture qu'à bien des égards les limites entre les deux termes paraissent aujourd'hui indiscernables. Bien entendu, il ne s'agit pas de dire par là que toute culture serait kitsch -alors que tout kitsch est par définition culturel.

El artículo indaga el papel de lo racial en las debilidades del mercado cultural del Ecuador y del Quito moderno. Se explora cómo los factores raciales han debilitado la conformación de un consumo cultural, lo que se ha expresado en teorías y en prácticas educativas y sociales que han evitado una fuerte profesionalización del campo de las artes y la conformación de públicos masivos en el acceso al consumo cultural. 
Abstract:
The article speaks about the role of the racial discrimination in the weaknesses of the cultural market of Ecuador and modern Quito. It explores how racial factors have weakened the conformation of cultural consumption, which has been expressed in theories and educational and social practices that have avoided a strong professionalization of the field of arts and the formation of mass audiences in the access to consumption cultural.