Christopher A. Chávez

Bio: Christopher A. Chávez is an academic researcher from University of Oregon. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ideology & Language ideology. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 15 publications receiving 65 citations. Previous affiliations of Christopher A. Chávez include Saint Louis University.

Hispanic agencies and profits of distinction: an examination of the advertising industry as a field of cultural production

Abstract: This project examines the advertising industry as a self-governing space that is guided by its own internal logics, but is nonetheless influenced by social dynamics at play in the larger social space. Using Bourdieu's theory of practice as a theoretical and analytical framework, this study explores the relationship between cultural capital and economic capital. Specifically, I examine the degree to which Hispanic practitioners have leveraged their knowledge of Latina(o) culture and their proficiency in Spanish as profits of distinction within the marketplace. Qualitative interviews conducted with Hispanic ad agents, general market ad agents and clients reveal that the position that Latinas(os) occupy within the social hierarchy has created both opportunities and boundaries for Hispanic agencies. This paper focuses on the practices that allow Hispanic agencies to isolate Latinas(os) from other consumers, distinguishing them institutionally and entitling them to dedicated marketing resources, but I also dis...

Building a "New Latino" in the Post-Network Era: mun2 and the Reconfiguration of the U.S. Latino Audience

Abstract: Significant developments in communications technologies and industry practice have led to a proliferation of regional and global television networks targeting U.S. Latinos. Focusing on the bilingual network mun2, I examine the degree to which traditional iterations of the audience are challenged. I focus on mun2 because of its relationship with Comcast and NBC Universal, from which it draws a variety of material resources. Using a case study approach, I found that mun2 defines its audience along three dimensions: biculturality, youth, and proficiency in emerging technologies. I argue that the construction of the audience has been reconfigured to better align with NBC Universal’s expanding product portfolio and its strategic vision of distributing television programming across multiple platforms.

Resistance in Song Form: NPR's Alt.Latino and Oppositional Discourses on Public Radio

Abstract: Alt.Latino, a music-oriented podcast that showcases Latin Alternative artists while addressing current political, social, and cultural issues. Compared to NPR’s general news programming, Alt.Latino...

Linguistic Capital and the Currency of Spanish in Hispanic Advertising Production

Abstract: This study examines how advertising intended for U.S. Latinos is indelibly shaped by the interaction between Hispanic agencies and their English monolingual clients. Although previous research on Hispanic advertising has typically focused on the psychological state of the speaker, less attention has been paid to the social consequences of speech. Using Bourdieu’s theory of practice as an analytical framework, qualitative interviews were conducted with 34 advertising practitioners. The testimonies reveal that in limited contexts within the production of Hispanic advertising, practitioners’ knowledge of Spanish serves as a form of linguistic capital, which they have been able to successfully convert into economic capital. However, the value associated with speaking Spanish is relatively constrained due to language ideologies at play in the larger social space. In this class-stratified, multilingual professional community, more powerful English monolinguals maintain strict control over Spanish language messa...

ASPiRational: Black Cable Television and the Ideology of Uplift

Abstract: In recent years, several new black-owned cable stations have entered the marketplace raising new questions about the relationship between ownership and content. In an effort to understand how industry logic shapes the social mission of black-owned networks, we focus on ASPiRE, an upstart cable network specifically designed to provide positive programing for African American families. Using a case study approach, we found that, like other black-oriented cable networks, ASPiRE has institutionally defined the black television audience as solidly middle-class, upwardly mobile and spiritually engaged. This construction of the audience reflects capitalist ideologies, but we further argue that ASPiRE invokes what Gaines refers to as an “ideology of uplift,” in which white, middle-class conceptions of respectability are appropriated by black elites. We argue that like other black-oriented cable networks, ASPiRE builds on two tenets of uplift ideology: emphasis on individual responsibility and the promotion of Chr...

On Imagined Communities

Abstract: Benedict Anderson’s deservedly famous thesis about the origins and nature of modern nationalism turns around the central notion of an “imagined community.” This category provides him with a matrix out of which one can apprehend-theoretically and historically-the different variants of nationalist discourse formulated over the last two hundred years. We will refer, in the brief comments that follow, to three basic dimensions structuring the fabric of Anderson’s argument: 1) the presuppositions implicit in the notion of an “imagined” community; 2) the kind of substitutability or solidarity which is required to be a member of such a community; 3) the kind of relationship that is established between such a community-which is by definition finite or limited-and its outside. Before that, however, let us describe the main features of Anderson’s thesis.

Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century

Abstract: (1997). Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 55-55.