University of Texas at El Paso ScholarWorks@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2019-01-01 Narcocultura As Cultural Capital For Latinx Youth Identity Work: An Online Ethnography Emiliano Villarreal University of Texas at El Paso Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Inequality and Stratification Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Other Education Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Villarreal, Emiliano, "Narcocultura As Cultural Capital For Latinx Youth Identity Work: An Online Ethnography" (2019). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2908. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/2908 This is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NARCOCULTURA AS CULTURAL CAPITAL FOR LATINX YOUTH IDENTITY WORK: AN ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHY EMILIANO VILLARREAL Doctoral Program in Teaching, Learning, and Culture APPROVED: Katherine S. Mortimer, Ph.D., Chair Amy J. Bach, Ed.D. Char Ullman, Ph.D. Eduardo Barrera Herrera, Ph.D. Stephen Crites, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Emiliano Villarreal 2019 NARCOCULTURA AS CULTURAL CAPITAL FOR LATINX YOUTH IDENTITY WORK: AN ONLINE ETHNOGRAPHY by EMILIANO VILLARREAL, M.S., B.A. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Teacher Education THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO December 2019 Acknowledgements I could have never completed this dissertation project without the years of support I received from the faculty at the Department of Teacher Education of the University of Texas at El Paso, in particular from my dissertation committee chair, Dr. Katherine S. Mortimer, to whom I owe this accomplishment. iv Abstract Why would young Latinxs want to be, talk, look, and act like narcos? This work analyzes the ways in which narcocultura has become an important source of cultural capital for many Latinxs. Narcocultura is the assemblage of music, video, television, and other forms of cultural production that feature figures of transnational narcotrafficking as central protagonists of their narratives. Based on a yearlong online ethnography, I examine the ways in which Latinx Facebook users appropriate and recontextualize narcocultura in their identity work through the lenses of LatCrit theory, critical discourse analysis, and personal lived experiences, which provided the departing point for the study and a key analytical tool. I analyze conversations I had with participants of narcocultura-oriented Facebook groups, as well as products and artifacts posted to these groups. My analysis explains the ways in which narcocultura can be engaging and empowering, while violent and problematic. The ways in which participants navigated said tensions are an important part of the study’s findings, as well as how young Latinxs use narco- centric identities to subvert class, gender, and race hegemonies. These findings have implications for practitioners of critical and culturally sustaining pedagogies who want to use these important sources of cultural capital to underpin meaningful learning experiences. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................................v List of Excerpts .............................................................................................................................. ix List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................................... xi List of Lyrics ................................................................................................................................. xii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Why would anyone want to act like a narco? ................................................................2 Attraction and Repulsion ........................................................................................................6 What is narcocultura? .............................................................................................................7 Academic Goals of the Dissertation .....................................................................................12 Overview of the Dissertation ................................................................................................12 Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................................16 Hip-Hop Culture as Cultural Capital for Black Youth .........................................................17 Parallels between Hip-Hop Culture and Narcocultura..........................................................23 Contemporary Academic Work about Narcocultura ............................................................24 Youth, belonging, and narcocorridos ...........................................................................25 The narcosphere and imagined narcoscapes ................................................................27 Narcoviolencia .............................................................................................................32 Commodification and Discardability, Key Concepts from the Literature Review ...............36 Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................39 Latinx Critical Theory...........................................................................................................40 Identity Theory......................................................................................................................43 Imagined Audiences and Critical Discourse Analysis ..........................................................46 Chapter 4: Methods ........................................................................................................................49 Positionality as a Researcher and Academic ........................................................................50 Personal Conflict with—and Academic Interest in—Narcocultura ......................................56 Positionality as a Soldier .......................................................................................................59 vi A nuanced understanding of narcocultura emerges .....................................................61 Ethical Considerations and Challenges of my Study, Narcocultura as Taboo ...................622 Online Ethnography ..............................................................................................................66 Study Design and Data Collection ........................................................................................68 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................70 Selecting Facebook Groups for Study ..................................................................................71 Participant Selection .............................................................................................................75 Chapter 5: Retratos of the Participants ..........................................................................................80 Reina Rivera..........................................................................................................................81 Cinco Siete ............................................................................................................................86 Cinco Siete cleanses his online presence of “chacaloso” content ...............................94 How Reina Rivera and Cinco Siete’s multiple dimensions set them apart ..................99 Edgar Quintero and Luis Coronel .......................................................................................103 Chapter 6: Narco-Discourses about Gender and Class ................................................................114 Buchonas y Buchones .........................................................................................................114 How Women Are ................................................................................................................120 Chapter 7: Aquí Andamos al Cien, al Tiro, Activados ................................................................136 Chapter 8: The Legitimation and Appropriation of Violence ......................................................154 Niños Sicarios y Sicarias Cabronas ....................................................................................155 Sicarios y Pesados ...............................................................................................................169 The Legitimation of Violence, Crime, and Dehumanization