This volume discusses the role of comics in the formation of a modern sense of nationhood in Latin America and the rise of a collective Latino identity in the USA. It is one of the first attempts - in English and from a cultural studies perspective - to cover Latin/o American comics with a fully continental scope. Specific cases include cultural powerhouses like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as the production of lesser-known industries, like Chile, Cuba, and Peru.
"This book sets the context and the basis for arguing the ways in which comics, graphic novels, and cartoons mediate (positively, negatively and in between) the development of the state and the formulation of a coherent national culture. It will allow students to learn about Spanish-language comics and graphic novels in Latin America and the US, but without needing to be fluent Spanish speakers. The volume is significant since there are no other books like it, especially in English." - Dr. Mari Castañeda, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"There is now little doubt that popular culture genres such as the comic book merit serious critical analysis. Far from just a production of insignificant mass consumption, the comic book is a site of important information, ideologemes, and interpretations of the stress lines of the diverse national consciousness and imaginaries of Latin America. Redrawing the Nation is a superb inventory of critical essays and a superb entry in the sort of analytical bibliography this genre now compels." - David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University
"There is now little doubt that popular culture genres such as the comic book merit serious critical analysis. Far from just a production of insignificant mass consumption, the comic book is a site of important information, ideologemes, and interpretations of the stress lines of the diverse national consciousness and imaginaries of Latin America. Redrawing the Nation is a superb inventory of critical essays and a superb entry in the sort of analytical bibliography this genre now compels." - David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University