My Video #NoLatinoOscars

#OscarsSoWhite is Business as Usual
A couple days ago I posted on #OscarsSoWhite, although questions continued to nag me about how apologists for the Oscars continue to normalize rhetoric that erases the accomplishments of people of color. So I composed a video that answers some questions and provokes others.



I look at some of the statistics in my book Reclaiming Poch@ Pop regarding the representation of Latinos in the media, and it's unfortunate that this year's "so white" Oscars is indicative of standard practices in video games, news, and film.

Poch@ Pop Book Trailer

Multimodal Composition for My Book

Here's the trailer for my new book Reclaiming Poch@ Pop: Examining the Rhetoric of Cultural Deficiency (Latino Pop Culture) from Palgrave MacMillan. I used a somewhat popular trailer template from iMovie, but the comic book motif fit the content too well considering I look at the work of political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz.

The song "Haces el amor con el televisor" by Limbo Deluxe--available on freemusicarchive.org--really connected with the pop theme (it translates to 'making love with the TV' in English), which aligns with the content of this examination of popular culture that many Latin@s share as a part of cultural memory.

Visit Palgrave.com

My Book Now Available Online

Pre-Order Reclaiming Poch@ Pop on Amazon or Palgrave.com

These past few months, I've mentioned different stages of the writing and publishing process of my monograph Reclaiming Poch@ Pop: Examining the Rhetoric of Cultural Deficiency (Latino Pop Culture), so it's exciting to announce that it is now available for pre-order on palgrave.com and amazon.

This book is included in a series for Palgrave MacMillan on Latin@ Pop Culture, edited by Frederick L. Aldama. Poch@ Pop extends scholarship that began with my article on the hip hop fusion group Ozomatli for alter/nativas Latin American Studies journal, but the research began much earlier than that. While living in Tucson, some of the only relief from the ultraconservative legislation being passed came from pop culture artists who actively subverted the political messages about Latin@ immigration and education.

Highlights

• Foreword by Arturo Aldama
• Artwork by Lalo Alcaraz, Felicia Rice & Guillermo Gomez-Pena
• Personal photos with Chican@ icons Dolores Huerta & Cheech Marin
• An interview with Ozomatli members Uli Bella & Raul Pacheco

From Palgrave.com:
"Tracing the historical trajectory of the pocho (Latinos who are influenced by Anglo culture) in pop culture, this book begins with iconic Latin@ films of the 1990s and '80s to demonstrate how representations of English-speaking Latin@s break from cliché misrepresentations. Medina looks at themes including resistance to cultural deficiency through subversive rhetorical productions that engage with issues of immigration, identity, and education. He shows how the trope of pocho/pocha/poch@, which traditionally signified the negative connotation of "cultural traitor" in Spanish, has been reclaimed through the pop cultural productions of Latinos who self-identify as poch@."