Description
Book SynopsisInhabitants of Medellín, Colombia, suffered from the war-like violence perpetrated by drug cartels and other actors in the 1980s and 1990s. Thousands died, including innocent civilians, judges, and journalists, many more were injured and suffered psychological trauma. Three decades later, however, transnational media companies such as Netflix have transformed the traumatic memories into entertainment while the main perpetrator, Pablo Escobar, became a recognizable brand name. Even as global audiences are captivated by Escobar''s life and myth, his victims'' stories fade into oblivion.Victimhood, Memory, and Consumerism: Profiting from Pablo documents the story of violence inflicted on Medellín, and critically examines the status of its victims. Drawing on unique empirical material, the book addresses the impact of commercial exploitation of the city''s violent past on the victims of mass drug violence and on the present nature of the city. To demonstrate the magnitude of the profits ma
Trade ReviewHow to make sense of a Pablo Escobar t-shirt? Victimhood, Memory, and Consumerism is a fascinating and incisive analysis of the paradoxes of how mass drug violence in Medellín, Colombia has been commodified by the global culture industry of Netflix's Narcos and the mass-produced kitsch of dark tourism. The authors effectively show how this framing of violence as entertainment affects the lives and haunts the memories of the actual victims of violence in Medellín. * Marita Sturken, New York University, author of Tourists of History *
Table of ContentsPreface 1: Introduction 2: A city at war 3: Invisible victims in a commodified world 4: Building a global brand 5: 'There are many uncomfortable dynamics in a production' 6: Dark consumerism and the trauma(tic) economy 7: The quest for recognition 8: Global hierarchies of victimhood 9: Conclusion References
