In the Shadows of Capitalism: Human Trafficking, Embodied Potlatch, and Enclaves of Entrapment in Brazilian and Mexican Cultural Production

This dissertation constitutes an in-depth investigation of the intricate interplay between violence and unbridled capitalism. More particularly, the study aims to examine how these two phenomena intersect and contribute to pressing global issues, such as human trafficking, extreme precarity, debt bondage, and slave labor. As part of my academic research, I employ cultural production from Mexico and Brazil and use them as case studies to investigate the intersection of violence and capitalism. For example, I investigate the representation of human trafficking in Jorge Ibargüengoitia’s Las muertas and Glória Perez’s telenovela Salve Jorge. I compare Luis Zapata’s El vampiro de la colonia Roma to João Gilberto Noll’s, A Fúria do Corpo to understand the nuances of male sex work. Lastly, I analyze debt bondage and labor excess in the film 7 Prisoneiros and the documentary Maquilapolis: City of Factories. My theoretical framework draws upon diverse multidisciplinary perspectives, including works from Sayak Valencia, Georges Bataille, Teresa P.R. Caldeira, and Zygmunt Bauman. Valencia’s theoretical concept of gore capitalism allows me to theorize how human trafficking functions as an excess of gore capitalism. Furthermore, Bataille’s reading of the ritual of the potlatch allows me to understand how male sex workers resort to an embodied potlatch due to extreme precarity. Lastly, I examine Caldeira’s concept of a fortified enclave and reconfigure it as an enclave of entrapment, which plays a significant role in shaping the production of wasted lives. Through a nuanced examination of cultural production, this dissertation provides a more elaborate understanding of contemporary Latin American culture and how it manages of complex global issues through its cultural artifacts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Romance Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Romance Studies

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Barrientos-Gomez, Andy

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Pinet, Simone
• Keller, Patricia

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

http://doi.org/10.7298/ehb1-1212

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 14118
ProQuest Publication ID: 30814185

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/115661