Contemporary independent Latin American magazines : four cases since the 1990s

This study explores magazines starting in the 1990s after or during critical national periods. The Clinic (Chile), Barcelona (Argentina), Etiqueta Negra (Peru), and El Malpensante (Colombia) established a dialogue within their respective national contexts—Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, the economic crisis of 2001 in Argentina, Fujimori’s authoritarian regime in Peru, and the armed conflict in Colombia. Through critical humor, literary writing or intellectual debate, these publications embodied concerns and demands of a particular audience, and filled informative gaps ignored by mainstream media. Building upon a concept of “hybrid alternative media,” this study attempts to answer the following questions: What common characteristics and differences distinguish these publications? What do they represent? How can we analyze them in relation to the new paths of Latin American independent journalism? Distinguishing between satirical and cultural magazines, this analysis also provides insight on the role of these publications within a process of collective healing or cultural reevaluation.