Examining topics from tango and samba to sex workers in Costa Rica, from eating tamales to selling ice in the Andes, and from building and moving houses to buying cell phones, this collection brings together original research on some of the many forms of consumption and consumers that contribute to Latin American cultures and histories.

Understanding Consumer Culture in Latin America; J.Sinclair  & A.C.Pertierra PART I: TRANSNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS New Social and Business Models in Latin American Music; G.Yúdice The Advertising Industry in Latin America: A Contemporary Overview; J.Sinclair PART II: GETTING AND SPENDING From 'Country of the Future' to Emergent Country: Popular Consumption in Brazil; R.G.Oliven  & R.P.Machado Chile's Forgotten Consumers: Poor Urban Families, Consumption Strategies, and the Moral Economy of Risk in Santiago; J.Stillerman Peasants and Pirámides: Consumer Fantasies in the Colombian Andes; J.Antrosio PART III: DOMESTIC PRACTICE Decorating the New House: The Material Culture of Social Mobility; T.Ariztia Stitching Identities: Clothing Production and Consumption in Mexico City; M.Francois Christmas Tamales in Costa Rica (1900-1930); P.V.Jiménez , translated by Fergus Grealy and Anna Cristina Pertierra PART IV: IMAGES AND SOUNDSCAPES Quinceañera: Coming of Age through Digital Photography in Cuba; A.C.Pertierra Images of Work for Consumption: Factory's Representations in Ideological Propaganda and Advertising; V.Casaqui , translated by Marcela Ferreira da Silva and Anna Cristina Pertierra Tango, Samba and National Identities: Similarities and Differences in the Foundational Myths of 'Mi Noche Triste' and 'Pelo Telefone'; R.Helal  & H.R.Lovisolo , translated by Marc Figuerola Delgado and Anna Cristina Pertierra PART V: SPACES AND PLACES Spaces of Consumerism and the Consumption of Space: Tourism and Social Exclusion in the 'Mayan Riviera'; D.M.Navarrete  & M.Redclift Singing for Shaved Ice: Glacial Loss and Raspadilla in the Peruvian Andes; K.W.Dunbar  & K.D.M.Marcoa Becoming Middle Class? Consumption, Respectability and Place in Sex Tourism; M.Rivers-Moore

"This rich and diverse collection of studies of consumers and consumption in Latin America provides a wonderfully vivid window on class, politics, popular culture, international political economy, and the history of everyday life. This will be an enormously useful text for students of cultural and media studies and scholars throughout the social sciences. Its particularly good to see such a geographically diverse collection of authors engaged in this book." - Barry Carr, Visiting Professor, University of California and Fordham University, US, and Senior Fellow, Institute of Latin American Studies, La Trobe University, Australia "Writings about consumption are so often anecdotal, superficial, and in essence judgemental, which is precisely why this volume, which is none of these things, is both welcome and necessary. The core is an empathetic engagement with consumers across Latin America. The extraordinary range of topics shows just how absurd it is to try and understand everyday life without dealing with consumption, because, in so many respects, this simply is the contemporary world of Latin America. The volume also succeeds in addressing advertising, banking, business and branding as the essential context, without reducing consumption to these forces." - Daniel Miller, Professor of Anthropology, University College London