Interview with Jesús Martín Barbero, conducted by Diana Taylor, founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. This interview is a part of a series curated by the Hemispheric Institute, articulated around the question 'What is Performance Studies?' The series aims to provide a multifaceted approach to the often difficult task of defining the coordinates of both a field of academic study as well as a lens through which to assess and document cultural practice and embodied behavior. The contingent definitions documented in this series are based on the groundbreaking experiences and the scholarly endeavors of renowned figures in contemporary performance studies and practice.

Jesús Martín Barbero is a semiologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and specialist in communication and media who has produced important theoretical work on the topic of postmodernity in Latin America.  His contributions include his analysis of culture as a web of mediations, the semiological study of globalization, the alienating function of the local media, and the function of telenovelas in Latin America. He has been the president of the ALAIC (Asociación Latinoamericana de Investigadores de la Comunicación- Latin American Association of Communications Researchers) and a member of the Advisory Committee of the FELAFACS (Federación Latinoamericana de Facultades de Comunicación Social- Latin American Federation of Schools for Social Communication). He is a member of the Comité Científico de Infoamérica (Scientific Committee of Infoamérica).