In this course we will study “Narco-narratives” in twentieth century “American” film, music and art. “Narco Narratives” refers to a dispersed but interrelated corpus of cultural mediations that focus on the drug trade and on its violent effects on society in the Americas. Through these literary and visual materials, this course will explore the conflict between politics and the ethics of representation in contemporary Colombia, Mexico and the United States. Do “narco narratives” contribute to understanding the complexity of the violent phenomenon of the drug trade or do they sensationalize and thereby contribute to the proliferation of modernity’s cruelty? Our aim is to understand the cultural production that is an expression of these transformations. We will identity some of the traits of the most commercially successful Narco-narratives. We will study how these Narco-narratives either reinforce the mythic status of narco violence that has been perpetuated by the mainstream media on both sides of the border or whether it provides an alternative view of this discourse.