Heroes or Villains: Placing Narcocorridos in the Mexican Corrido Tradition

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Title: Heroes or Villains: Placing Narcocorridos in the Mexican Corrido Tradition
Creator: Sarah Berry
Date: 4/1/2012
Abstract: In this paper I sought to understand whether narcocorridos represent an aberration or a continuation of the corrido tradition. Drawing upon the subaltern theories advanced by Antonio Gramsci, we find that corridos represent a form of cultural communication in an extremely class stratified society. The concept of the social bandit as conceived by the British Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm sheds further light on how and why heroes—or anti-heroes—are treated not only as real men, but archetypal manifestations of agency and self-determination that is out of reach for all but a few. Exploring the historic roots of the Mexican corrido we see that the narcocorrido is deeply rooted in Mexican culture, and like the traditional corridos of the Revolutionary period represent a narrative attempt to reconcile complex and often contradictory elements of daily life in a country ‘at war.’
Type: Text
Language: eng
Rights: Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 05/31/2023, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
note: John Rector
Identifier: pat/3
Bibliographic Citation: Berry, Sarah. “Heroes or Villains: Placing Narcocorridos in the Mexican Corrido Tradition.” Paper presented at the Phi Alpha Theta Pacific Northwest Regional Conference, Spokane, Washington, April 12-14, 2012.
Subject: corrido tradition; narcocorrido