----------------------------Original message---------------------------- The first thing I'd suggest is expanding your theoretical base beyond Schiller's "classical" cultural imperialism/media imperialism model, which I find reductive and paternalistic, with only the crudest conception of audiences and patterns of reception (i.e., it's pretty much the post-Frankfurt School mass culture picture of viewers as drooling, passive slaves of the culture industry). As a corrective, a good place to start is John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, @1992). And there has been some publication on telenovelas in English-language journals--somebody want to post specific citations? Steve Fore U of N Texas [log in to unmask]