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Since 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 by analyzing 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. (200504)
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El Narcotraficante
Inter-America Series / Edited by Duncan Earle, Howard Campbell, and John Peterson In the new ‘‘Inter-American’’ epoch to come, our borderland zones may expand well past the confines of geopolitical lines. Social knowledge of these dynamic interfaces offers rich insights into the pressing and complex issues that affect both the borderlands and beyond. The Inter-America Series comprises a wide interdisciplinary range of cutting-edge books that explicitly or implicitly enlist border issues to discuss larger concepts, perspectives, and theories from the ‘‘borderland’’ vantage and will be appropriate for the classroom, the library, and the wider reading public.
EL NARCOTRAFICANTE Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexico Border Mark Cameron Edberg Foreword by Howard Campbell
University of Texas Press, Austin
Tape and CD covers used by permission of Cintas Acuario International Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2004 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) (permanence of paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Edberg, Mark Cameron, 1955– El narcotraficante : narcocorridos and the construction of a cultural persona on the U.S.-Mexico border / Mark Cameron Edberg ; foreword by Howard Campbell. p. cm. — (Inter-America series) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-292-70182-9 (cloth : alk. paper)— isbn 0-292-70206-x (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Drug traffic—Mexico. 2. Drug traffic—Mexico—Folklore. 3. Drug traffic—Mexico—Songs and music. 4. Narcotics dealers—Mexico—Folklore. 5. Narcotics dealers—Mexico— Songs and music. 6. Drugs in popular music. 7. Corridos— Mexico. 8. Mexican Americans in popul