We are pleased to announce the publication of the Open Access book Latin America's Contested Pasts in Telenovelas and TV Series. History as Fuel for Entertainment, edited by Mónika Contreras Saiz and Stefan Rinke, and published by De Gruyter as part of the GUMELAB project. The book examines how telenovelas and TV series have depicted Latin America's recent and often traumatic past. It analyzes their influence on historical perception, social memory, and the political culture of the region. This edited volume features case studies on the 20th-century dictatorships in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil, as well as on topics like the drug war and the armed conflict in Colombia.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, the book explores narratives ranging from the glorification of perpetrators to the search for reconciliation and the construction of a collective historical memory. The volume offers valuable insights into the role of entertainment in conveying history and into the cultural and political dynamics of Latin America.

To the PDF volume