El Rock Star Perfecto? Theorizing Juanes and New Directions in Cross-Over Celebrity

Abstract

The landscape of Latin American celebrity representation, typically understood through the theoretical lens of cross-over, is undergoing significant shifts. The Colombian rockero Juanes's career, press reception, and participation in the transnational public sphere have established him as a celebrity diplomat. Read against the star texts of previous cross-overs, Juanes's economic success and the international attention his political efforts have garnered suggest a dynamic shift in the agency and representational strategies available to Latin American celebrities. His ability to succeed in this realm is contingent on a performance of hegemonic heterosexual masculinity. A critical discourse analysis and transnational feminist approach traces the production, circulation, and discourse of the music, press reception, and production of Juanes's celebrity and philantrophic/political efforts.

Receiving and resisting: Toward a market-driven cultural hybridity

“…First, Shakira can be 'pop's 21st-century Latina bombshell' (Pareles, 2005: n.p. ), an embodiment of 'multiple citizenships and multiple identities' (Cepeda, 2003: 214), a palatable foreigner (Gontovnik, 2010), or a cross-over star (Ceisel, 2011). She may be all of them, but I argue that the above analysis of Shakira ultimately demonstrates her ability to recognize and adapt to the US market across multiple areas; in doing so, she establishes herself as a globally recognized artist, persona, and product.…”

Pluralismo agonista en la internacionalización de los estudios latinoamericanos de la comunicación: reflexiones a partir de la práctica

“…Para responderla, realizamos una búsqueda utilizando a la región y sus países como palabras clave. Dicha estrategia nos reportó un total de ocho artículos publicados entre 1992 y febrero de 2016 que hacen referencias sustantivas a América Latina (Block, 2013;Ceisel, 2011;Davis, 2015;Lozano, 1992;Rodríguez, 2001;Scholz, 2016;Sypher, McKinley, Ventsam, & Valdeavellano, 2002;Vásquez & Cooren, 2013).…”

“…En términos de construcción teórica, tres de los ocho artículos adoptan enfoques críticos que se basan en, y contribuyen a, un cuerpo de producción de conocimientos latinoamericano y que, a la vez, dan cuenta de debates y preocupaciones que van más allá de la región. Cabe destacar que esos tres artículos fueron escritos por académicas mujeres (Rodríguez, 2001;Ceisel, 2011;Scholz, 2016), sumando una muy necesaria diversidad al canon típicamente masculino y elitista del campo disciplinar (Chaffee, Gómez-Palacio & Rogers, 1990). La diversidad geopolítica de esta pequeña muestra es extremadamente limitada.…”