This collection of essays on popular culture and politics in the Americas presents the study of ethnographic and historical data from different countries: Canada, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Each chapter brings to light a distinct focus on the way in which popular cultural practices evolve in the context of contemporary globalization. Accordingly, this book aims to improve our understanding of the way in which subordinate groups participate in the process of state building and in the reproduction (or rejection) of the major macroeconomic and cultural processes shaping contemporary societies.

Eduardo González Castillo is a social anthropologist, whose studies concern popular culture, youth activism, alternative media and urban space in Mexico and Canada. Currently, he works as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Canada Research Chair in evaluating public actions related to young people and vulnerable populations (CREVAJ). Jorge Pantaleón is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Montreal. His interests include economic ethnography and social and cultural transformation in Latin-American contemporaries societies. Dr. Pantaleón is the author of several books concerning popular economic practices, immigration and development. Nuria Carton de Grammont is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for International Studies of the University of Montréal (CERIUM), where she also coordinates the Réseau d'études de l'Amérique latine. Dr. Carton de Grammont works on the aesthetics violence and on the impact of narcotraffic in art and popular culture in contemporary Mexico.