Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. One. Melodrama as Ambiguous Signifier: Latin American Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas 1
5. Part One
6. Two. Seeing Xica and the Melodramatic Unveiling of Colonial Desire 25
7. Three. Producing the Global West through Latin Tales of Seduction and Envy 46
8. Four. Karen’s Seduction: The Racial Politics of Appropriate Dinner Guests 67
9. Five. A Mother’s Wrath and the Complex Disjuncturing of Class 88
10. Part Two
11. Six. Being Narco: The Evolution of a Continental Sensibility 111
12. Seven. Saintly Figures and Icons: The Migration of a Continental Dream 132
13. Eight. La Reina del Sur: Gender, Racial, and National Contestations of Regional Identity 152
14. Nine. Sex, Drugs, and Cumbia: The Hybrid Nature of Culture 171
15. Ten. Conclusion: The Postcolonial Politics of Melodrama 191
16. Postscript. Ugly Betty 211
17. References 217
18. Index 229