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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Representational Scales: Latinx Media Production in Chicago, 1953-2012 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Screen Cultures By Roger Almendarez EVANSTON, ILLINOIS September 2018 2 © Copyright by Roger Almendarez 2018 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Representational Scales: Latinx Media Production in Chicago, 1953 – 2012 Roger Almendarez Like the majority of media studies, research on Latinx media is characterized by a focus on a single medium. As an alternative, this dissertation provides a media ecology of the city’s Latinx mediascape between the years 1953 and 2012. This dissertation investigates four case studies: (1) Univision’s former television affiliate, WCIU; (2) the Little Village/Pilsen neighbor- hood micro-broadcasting radio stations, WCYC and WRTE; (3) the longest running Latinx film festival in the country, the Chicago Latino Film Festival; and (4) the renowned activist group, the Immigrant Youth Justice League. Over the course of four chapters, this work outlines the history of Chicago’s Latinx media industry, revealing four eras hereafter known as the dawn of Latinx broadcasting (1953-1986); the decade of the “Hispanic” (1986-1996); the intermedial turn (1996-2006); and the rise of social media (2006-2012). These historical junctures demarcate key moments of change in the city’s Latinx media industry, each containing specific, distinguishable characteristics. The dawn of Latinx broadcasting (1953-1986) was marked by broadcasters privileging Latin America in their representations of Latinidad, the sense of being Latinx. The decade of the “Hispanic” (1986-1996), a term first introduced by Maria Elena Toraño in 1979, bore witness to the devel- opment of a more unified U.S.-American Latinx viewing public. The intermedial turn (1996- 2006) was characterized by an interest in producing work across media platforms. Lastly, the rise of social media (2006–2012) was, in many ways, a continuation of the intermedial turn but dif- fered in that there was a quicker, more pronounced shifting of scales, which demonstrated a clear strategy for developing a sense of community and undocumented identity according to scale. 4 Each scale-shift not only addressed a different segment of the U.S. undocumented community but also reflected an alternative understanding of citizenship, where the U.S.-American Latinx population was not only made-up of U.S. citizens but also of undocumented Latinxs, who could engage with the nation through Latinx cultural citizenship and other forms of deviant citizenship. This study’s primary question is: “what insights do we gain by focusing on the question of scale in the history of the city’s Latinx media industry?” This dissertation shows that communication establishes relationships according to scales, and by shifting those scales, media producers set boundaries for community inclusion and establish new relationships among their audi- ences. In other words, by focusing on scale, this work reveals how people in Chicago have used media to relate to each other, to their surroundings, and to their technologies. This dissertation’s interest in the relationship between media and space exemplifies an overall shift in media research known as the spatial turn, which is marked by a swell in the number of works on the cultural geographies of media. Building on the work of Henri Lefebvre, Ana Tsing, Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, this study introduces the concept of representational scales, which consists of a triad of proximity, transmission, and identity and describes the productive geopolitical, technological, and social boundaries that have made up Chicago’s Latinx mediascape. While grounded in media studies, this work engages in an interdisciplinary dialogue with Latinx studies, building on the work of Claudia Milian to introduce the idea of mediated Latinites, the qualities of being Latinx as expressed through media. This dissertation explores how Latinx media producers represented a sense of Latinidad through such mediated Latinities, offering a more nuanced language for discussing the varied representation of Latinx identity in media. As a media ecology, this work also engages with literature in media convergence and 5 intermedia studies, building on Henry Jenkins’ notion of transmediation, a spread of cultural material across media, to argue that mediated Latinities engender a structure of feeling that coheres Chicago’s Latinx mediascape through the transmediation of Latinidad. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Of the many that things I learned from writing this dissertation, perhaps the most life- changing was the realization that something is not nothing. This aphorism became my mantra as I balanced my expanding life with the demands of writing a dissertation, working a little bit each day to chip away at the project that rests before you. This little saying took on even greater meaning as it came to represent the ways in which all people contribute to the societies and cultures in which they find themselves. Shifting now to a slightly different scale, I would like to take a moment to turn my attention to everyone that contributed an important “something” to this dissertation. I would like to thank the institutions that provided the resources, historical materials, and staff that were crucial to completing this dissertation. My gratitude goes to the Chicago History Museum Research Center, the Northwestern University Archives, the Northwestern University library, the DePaul University Special Collections and Archives, the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center, the University of Illinois Archives in Chicago, el General de la Nación in Mexico city, the Harold Washington Library, the Chicago Public Library, St. Augustine College, and the International Latino Cultural Center. Writing this dissertation not only took time and effort but also money, and I am indebted to the following institutions for helping me keep my math in order: The Graduate School at Northwestern University, Hampshire College, the Internet Archive, and Saatchi and Saatchi in Los Angeles. As a work of historical recovery, I could not have written this dissertation without the words, insights, and information from the people that were actually there, advancing the institutions that helped define a sense of Latinidad in Chicago. Thank you to Harv Roman, Jorge 7 Valdivia, Francisco “Pepe” Vergas, Rodrigo Carramiñana, the volunteer staff of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, Ruth Mojica Hammer, Linda Garcia Merchant, Peter Zomaya, Jose Cruz, George Hancock, and Steve Moroniak. This work is not only a history of Latinx media in Chicago but an exploration of the theoretical concepts that I encountered throughout my graduate studies. As such, I would like to thank all of the professors that helped shape my intellectual foundations. For encouraging me to pursue a graduate degree while I was still a bright-eyed undergrad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I would like to thank Frances Gateward. For being the first department to fully invest in my education, I would like to thank the staff and faculty of the former department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University-Bloomington: Kathy Teige, Joshua Malitsky, Greg Waller, Stephanie DeBoer, Chris Anderson, Barbara Klinger, and, most especially, Yeidy Rivero, who embraced the challenge when my mother said to her, “quidame mi hijo.” For giving me the opportunity to come back home to Chicago and re-unite with my family, I would like to thank Northwestern University and its wonderful faculty. Thank you to the professors of the Screen Cultures program: Miriam Petty, Scott Curtis, Mimi White, Jeff Sconce, and Hamid Naficy. For providing me with the opportunity to expand beyond my department and explore my interest in interdisciplinary work, I would like to thank the Latino Studies program, especially Joanna Maravilla-Cano, Geraldo Cadava, and Frances Aparicio; the Asian-American Studies program’s Jinah Kim and Cheryl Jue; Mark Hauser in the Anthropolgy department; and Jessica Greenberg in Rhetoric and Public Culture. Throughout my graduate career, I became acquainted with truly exceptional and brilliant graduate students. I would like to thank James Paasche, Elliot Heilman, Ricardo Sánchez, Zach 8 Campbell, and Stephen Babish for standing out as academic comrades that not only challenged my ideas but also could be counted on to dance the night away. This dissertation underwent numerous revisions, evolving over the years thanks to helpful guidance from my readers and committee members. Thank you to Federico Subervi for providing feedback on various chapters of this dissertation. Thank you to Ramón Rivera-Servera and Jacqueline Stewart for providing early feedback as I developed a better sense of what this dissertation should be. I would like to thank Lynn Spigel for being there at every step of the way, not only serving as a great mentor and champion for me as I applied to fellowships and jobs over the years but also as an intellectual juggernaut that I leaned on in order to push through some of my intellectual obstacles. I would like to thank Myrna Garcia for her amazing support over the years, not only inspiring me to keep going but becoming the most crucial piece of the puzzle when I needed her to be. Lastly, this dissertation would not have become what it did if not for the unwavering support and constant pushback from my advisor, Jacob Smith. He took me on as a graduate student during a critical point, and he guided me to even greater questions, shedding just enough light on the path to keep me motivated as I waded through the darkness. Thank you so much, Jake. I would like to thank my truly amazing family, los Almendarez, Ramirez, Jimenez, and Stenbergs, who provided me with support and encouragement over the years. Thank you to my hilarious cousins for always letting me step outside of my work and enjoy being me, without all the fuss.

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