I am a literary scholar by training, with a strong interest in visual culture and street art studies. I’m interested in contributing to a deeper understanding of how ideology and philosophy are represented in cultural production. I view myself primarily as a Mexicanist, with a focus on 20th and 21st Mexican production, but I have broad interests that reach into other disciplines and traditions: in particular, history of ideas, philosophy, and social media.
I divide my research time between two main topics: the representation of cosmopolitanism in Spanish American narrative, and social movements and their use of political street art.
Coming up: Belonging Beyond Borders, University of Calgary Press (January 2021)
Belonging Beyond Borders maps the evolution of cosmopolitanism in Spanish American literature. Drawing on a new theoretical framework that blends intellectual studies and literary history with integrated approaches to Spanish American narrative, the book marries rooted cosmopolitanism—a philosophy that gives equal place to both the nation and the world in the creation of one’s identity—and decoloniality—a philosophy developed principally in Latin America—to create a conceptual framework specifically applicable to Latin American production. I argue this is the philosophy currently at work in Spanish American novels to discuss issues of identity and citizenship in an increasingly globalized world.
Cosmopolitanism in Latin America has historically been associated with colonialism. In the mid-twentieth-century, authors who presented cosmopolitan narratives were harshly criticized by their nationalist peers. Intellectuals could not be grounded in their national settings while also being open to the world. Since the 1960s, however, authors have both embraced and challenged global citizenship, redefining concepts to address human rights, identity, migration, belonging, and more. Taking the work of Elena Poniatowka, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Jorge Volpi as examples, this book presents innovative scholarship, both across literary traditions and through a generational lens. I show how Spanish American authors offer nuanced understandings of national and global affiliations, and identities and untangles the strings of cosmopolitan thought and activism from those of nationalist criticism.
In progress: My current research project, “Political Street Art in Contemporary Mexico,” studies the proximity between street art and activism. I look at the representation of gender-based violence and forced disappearances in 21st century Mexico in the works of collectives of street artists and Instagram artists. This project is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant.
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