The Colombian connection: Popular music, transnational identity, and the political moment

In these case studies, I propose that the Colombian political and social crisis of the late 1990s and early 2000s has not only provoked a veritable popular music renaissance, it has also precipitated a concomitant resemanticization of Colombian identity both within Colombia and among its U.S.-based diaspora. As such, the first chapter, “Contemporary Colombian (Im)migration and the Political Moment,” provides an overview of the Colombian political crisis and the related history of contemporary Colombian (im)migration to the United States. Here, particular attention is paid to the singular “political moment” that has precipitated the Miami Colombian community's physical displacement to the United States. Chapter two, “A Miami Sound Machine: Deconstructing the Latin(o) Music ‘Boom’ of the Late 90s,” examines contemporary representations of Latin(o) music's presence in the U.S., with an emphasis on Miami's Latin(o) music industry and Colombian music's role within it. An in-depth examination of the Latin(o) music industry during the “boom” era, this chapter deconstructs the prevailing and largely superficial depictions of the “boom” within the popular media. Chapter three, “Shakira as the Idealized, Transnational Citizen: A Case Study of Colombianidad in Transition,” analyzes the figure of Colombian pop star—and recent Miami immigrant—Shakira. Here, I examine Shakira as a public persona who embodies the interstices between U.S. Latino and Latin American identities. Moreover, I argue that the increasingly aggressive marketing of Shakira's image and music has recast the meanings and values attached to in-group cultural citizenship among Colombians. The next case study, “Florecita rockera: Gender and Representation in Colombian Rock Music,” centers on Andrea Echeverri, the female lead singer of Bogotá rock band the Aterciopelados. Here, I probe the ways in which Echeverri addresses issues pertinent to gender in her music, in addition to her treatment as a gendered subject within the U.S. popular media. My concluding chapter, “El vallenato colombiano acá y allá: Allegory for a Nation,” analyzes current re-workings of Colombia's traditional vallenato genre—once the exclusive terrain of working-class men of color—as presently witnessed in the best-selling recordings of white, upper-class performer Carlos Vives.