Popular Culture and the Public Sphere/Nicaragua We seek papers that treat issues and phenomena at the intersection of popular culture and the arena(s) of public opinion, discussion, action and conflict in Nicaragua. Papers may correspond to any historical period and may take up "popular culture" in any number of ways, whether this be as folklore, as a component of everyday life, consumer culture, mass communications, etc. Consistent with the conference’s broader emphasis on "civil society" in the Americas, we are especially interested in the variety of ways that cultural materials are involved in the negotiation and/or maintenance of public spaces, conversations, opinions and movements that are at least partially independent of both the state and the private sector.

Some specific questions that might be addressed are:

• How does Nicaraguan popular culture respond to the economic, cultural and political effects of globalization?
• How is national identity construed in popular music? in artesanal culture?
• How has the global graffiti art phenomenon caught on in Nicaragua?
• What roles does religion play in the development or maintenance of a viable Nicaraguan civil society?
• What is the current importance, if any, of traditional forms of popular/folk expression such as el Güegüence, or annual street celebrations of patron saints?

This is Congress V and full details about past meetings and such issues as transportation, hotels, program are all on the web site: www.udlap.mx/congress