Pablo Escobar and Colombian Narcoculture

How the legacy of Pablo Escobar inspired the development of narcoculture in Colombia and around the world In the years since his death in 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has become a globally recognized symbol of crime, wealth, power, and masculinity. In this long-overdue exploration of Escobars impact on popular culture, Aldona Bialowas Pobutsky shows how his legacy inspired the development of narcoculturetelevision, music, literature, and fashion representing the drug-trafficking lifestylein Colombia and around the world. Pobutsky looks at the ways the Escobar brand surfaces in bars, restaurants, and clothing lines; in Colombias tourist industry; and in telenovelas, documentaries, and narco memoirs about his life, which in turn have generated popular interest in other drug traffickers such as Griselda Blanco and Miamis cocaine cowboys. Pobutsky illustrates how the Colombian state strives to erase his memory while Escobars notoriety only continues to increase in popular culture through the transnational media. She argues that the image of Escobar is inextricably linked to Colombias internal tensions in the areas of cocaine politics, gender relations, class divisions, and political corruption and that his brand perpetuates the countrys reputation as a center of organized crime, to the dismay of the Colombian people. This book is a fascinating study of how the world perceives Colombia and how Colombias citizens understand their nations past and present. A volume in the series Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/o America, edited by Hctor Fernndez LHoeste and Juan Carlos Rodrguez.