In This Issue

In This Issue You have in your hands the first issue of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. Its publication responds to the need to provide a venue for truly incisive interdisciplinary work The editors of the journal believe that Cultural Studies provides an excellent vantage point from which to accomplish this. We certainly did not invent interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. We are certainly not alone in perceiving the need for a journal of this kind. Its inception is not an attempt to capitalize on the latest trend in the scholarly marketplace. Our version of Cultural Studies is deeply rooted in a conceptualization of culture that attempts to return the text to its rightful place as part of the rich mixture of material reality that forms our everyday existence. The origins of what we see as central to Cultural Studies are found in the work of the Frankfurt School and those British critics who have been especially insightful in their interpretations of the Frankfurt School's work. Our pages are open to those who embrace many definitions of Cultural Studies. We hope that this variety of perspectives will open a dialogue that will enable us to examine what we do as scholars, what happens in the Hispanic world and what we do in the classroom. In this way we hope our journal will find a way to transcend the limits of academic scholarship and transform our academic endeavors. For this reason we open our pages to writing that examines these issues. This first volume of the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies demonstrates the expansive view of Cultural Studies within the disciplines of Hispanism. It contains eight essays, a section on pedagogical perspectives , a round table discussion, an interview and numerous book reviews as well as a brief introduction to the work of Spanish photographer Antonio Bueno whose photograph "Jardines perdidos" is featured on our cover. Each volume of our journal will feature the work of a different Hispanic artist. We expect to add more features with future issues, especially a "State of the Art" column where an invited scholar will talk about current work in a specific area of Hispanic Cultural Studies. The web page for the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies provides a space for an open-ended discussion. Here contributors and readers can continue to discuss specific issues raised in the pages of our journal. This issue contains an interview with Robert López, better known as the Mexican Elvis impersonator, El Vez. His unique blend of American and Mexican popular music is a fascinating study of exactly how culture as commodity can be used to spread historical and political awareness. Our interview with some of those responsible for redefining Spanish cultural production in the 1980s is equally situated. These young artists helped shape the phenomenon known as h movida and all collaborated in one way or the other on the magazine La Luna de Madrid. They met with us to discuss what the 1980s were about in Spain to help us in our effort to try to map out cultural production in a way that may not be present in many recent studies of high Spanish culture. We find the irreverent personal takes of those who participated refreshing and hope their insight will contribute to rethinking Spanish cultural production at a time when Spain was rapidly evolving . Anthony Geist and company's "unseminar" paper is the first contribution to our section on pedagogical perspectives. We hope this section will stimulate fruitful debates over how the theory we teach and practice takes shape in the classroom. The essays that form the first issue explore a variety of topics. Lauro Zavala's contribution meshes theory and practice in an examination of the role of writing in shaping cultural identity in Mexico. Bakhtin's concept of the dialogic provides his point of entry into the construction of an idea of what role the liminal plays in shaping cultural production. Borders are certainly liminal areas and Concepción Bados-Ciria studies how the concept of the frontier shapes the idea of global and local cultural in the work of the Mexican film director Maria...