From cultural vitality to market marginality: Latin America and the structural contradictions of cultural globalization

Abstract

This article examines Latin America and the Caribbean's position within contemporary cultural globalization, foregrounding the structural contradiction between the region's cultural centrality and its persistent marginality in global cultural trade. Despite its cultural vitality, the region's participation in global trade remains marginal, accounting for only 3–4% of exports. This paradox is reinforced by statistical biases that obscure artisanal production, grassroots economies, and digital creativity, sustaining global inequalities. Yet Latin America is not passive space of incorporation: the international circulation of urban music, cinema, regional cooperation mechanisms, and state-led audiovisual policies reveal processes of hybridization that negotiate tradition and modernity under asymmetrical conditions. Engaging critically with UNESCO's framing of culture as a global public good, the article argues for participatory governance, regional integration, and a redefinition of cultural value beyond neoliberal rationalities to support cultural rights, citizenship, and sustainable development.