Whiteness Beyond the Skin
Publisher
Peter Lang Verlag
Date Issued
2026-10-13
Author(s)
Rivera-betancur Jerónimo León
Universidad de La Sabana, Universidad de Navarra, Universidad de la Sabana
Type
Other
Abstract
This book reveals how the Latin American media scene—encompassing film, television, streaming, news, and advertising—conceals a powerful whiteness that still holds influence across the region. Bringing together scholars from eight countries, the volume combines whiteness studies, critical race theory, and media analysis, to trace the colonial roots of mestizaje, decode colorism’s visual language, and show how screen stories—from Mexico’s Golden Age cinema to Netflix telenovelas—favor light skin as a symbol of modernity while portraying Afro-descendant and Native identities as marginalized. Case studies analyze award-winning films, news, reality TV, and children’s ads, while also highlighting counter-hegemonic voices. Overall, the chapters argue that whiteness acts as the invisible operating system of Latin American media despite white ethnicity not being dominant in the region; and the book reveals how this idea shapes the media landscape and, ultimately, society itself.
License
Acceso Abierto.
URL License
How to cite
Dominguez-Partida, G., Rivera-Betancur, J. (2026). Whiteness Beyond the Skin. Privilege and Exclusion in Latin American Media. New York, United States of America: Peter Lang Verlag. Retrieved Oct 27, 2026, from 10.3726/b23597
Table of contents
Introduction: What is whiteness in the Latin American media landscape? (Gabriel Domínguez Partida & Jerónimo Rivera-Betancur) -- 1. Cinema as an agent of progress: Contradictions of the white modernizing impulse in Bajo el cielo antioqueño (Juan Carlos Arias & Juan David Cárdenas) -- 2. Whiteness and social class in classic Mexican cinema (Carmen Elisa Gómez Gómez) -- 3. Skin color in Argentine cinema (Alfredo Caminos & Fernando Andrés Saad) -- 4. Whitexicans and whiteness in award-winning contemporary Mexican cinema: An analysis of social imaginaries through whiteness theory (Jacob Bañuelos Capistrán & Juan Carlos Olmedo Estrada) -- 5. The “Moreno” threat to the “Blanco” in Mexican society: The cinematographic dystopia of Nuevo Orden (Juan Carlos Carrillo) -- 6. Somos Pacífico: Afro-Colombianidad, violence, and migration (Jerónimo Rivera-Betancur) -- 7. The threshold of the visibly whitexican: The representation of white Mexican elites in streaming audiovisual series (Juan Manuel Díaz) -- 8. Evil whiteness: An analysis of collective representations of wealthy white characters in the telenovela Madre de alquiler (Netflix, 2023) (Erick Bernardo Suaste Molina) -- 9. Exploring stereotypes: An analysis of racial representations in Mexican telenovelas (María del Carmen Camacho Gómez) -- 10. Representation of whiteness in Andean television news (Abel Suing, Lilia Carpio-Jiménez & Kruzkaya Ordóñez) -- 11. White, beautiful, incredible: Whiteness and media authority in Jalisco weathercasting (Edgar M. García) -- 12. A king among my-kings: Roberto Palazuelos and documentary as performativity (Sergio J. Aguilar Alcalá) -- 13. Drama is white: Performing a white Mexican identity in Netflix’s Made in Mexico (2018) (Gabriel Domínguez Partida) -- 14. Why are all the kids white? Whiteness and colorism in the corporal representations of infants in Mexican advertising (Juris Tipa) -- 15. “We Argentines came from the ships”: On the alleged Argentine whiteness and its audiovisual representation (Gastón Bernstein Zarich).