| This dissertation applies an approach that centers on the material and medial aspects underlying all acts of communication to the media-related aspects in the writings of some of the most prominent Latin American theorists. The principal texts under investigation are Walter Mignolo's The Darker Side of the Renaissance, Angel Rama's La ciudad letrada, and Nestor Garcia Canclini's Culturas hibridas ; as well as a number of essays by other intellectuals on the political relevance and evaluation of media. The approach chosen combines aspects derived from a set of theories which all share an emphasis on the pivotal importance of taking into account the materialities of communication when it comes to assessing how, why, and to what purpose media are used in society.;This particular approach was chosen because it thus far has been lacking in Latin American scholarship. By going beyond the established emphasis on questions of ownership, manipulation, and consumer resistance, and focusing on the materialities of communication, the dissertation hopes to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of media in society. In the case of The Darker Side of the Renaissance and La ciudad letrada , special attention is paid to the elision of typography and especially in the case of the former, the privileging of categories of interaction over communication, while Culturas hibridas is analyzed with an eye toward uncovering the assumption of innate media qualities. The goal of the dissertation, however, is not to refute or contradict the works of these Latin American theorists by replacing them with an allegedly superior materialities of communication approach that developed outside of Latin America. Rather, the dissertation strives to create a dialogue in order to assure a mutually beneficial exchange of insights. Just as Latin American media theory---a questionable label that is problematized, in the introductory chapter---may profit from a more technology-centered media approach, the latter will have to take into account the specificities of the Latin American media evolution that influenced the studies of the theorists under investigation. |
