Reinventing the Latino Television Viewer

Language, Ideology, and Practice

Christopher Chávez

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2015
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498506649
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Reinventing the Latino Television Viewer: Language, Ideology, and Practice examines how the relationship between language, power, and industry practice is reshaping the very concept of Hispanic television. Chávez argues that as established mainstream networks enter the Hispanic television space, they are redefining the Latino audience in ways that more closely resemble the mainstream population, leading to auspicious forms of erasure that challenge the legitimacy of Spanish altogether. This book presents the integration of English into the Hispanic television space not as an entirely new phenomenon, but rather as an extension of two ongoing practices within the television industry—the exploitation of consumer markets and the suppression of Latino forms of speech.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Hispanic Television and the Changing Field of Latino Cultural Production
• Audience Reconstruction and the Rise of the “New Latino”
• Mixing, Switching, and Policing Linguistic Boundaries
• English-Language Television and Linguistic Erasures
• The New Hispanic Television Landscape and the False Promise of Democracy
• Bibliography
• Index