Matching Items (11)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Latin American Studies
- All Subjects: Immigrants in literature
- Creators: Foster, David W
- Status: Published
Description
This dissertation analyzes three films from Mexico, Spain, and Argentina--Kilómetro 31, El orfanato, and Aparecidos (2007)--and their interplay with the historicism that has traditionally served as the default referent for "reality" in Western narrative. While grounding my approach in temporal critique, I borrow from deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and queer theory to explore ways in which ghosts and the rhetorical figure of the family are manipulated in each national imaginary as a strategy for negotiating volatility within symbolic order: a tactic that can either naturalize or challenge normative discourses. As a literary and cinematic trope, ghosts are particularly useful vehicles for the exploration of national imaginaries and the dominant or competing cultural attitudes towards a country's history, and thus, the articulation of a present political reality. The rhetorical figure of the family is also pivotal in this process as a mechanism for expressing national allegories, for articulating generational anxieties about a nation's relationship with its history, and for organizing societies and social subjects as such, interpellating them into or excluding them from national imaginaries according to its grammar/logic. The proposed trajectory through these films will help facilitate a study of the potential of these rhetorical figures to either reinscribe or question two of the most fundamental processes that go into the cartography of ideology: the imposition of (a) time and the negotiation of social subjectivity within it. Competing political narratives may use any number of rhetorical strategies to position themselves in time to promote their agendas while continuing to reinforce the overall framework that determines the parameters of what is visible, and thus debatable. As temporal anomalies who are defined by their (in)visibility, ghosts can be used to either reinforce this framework or they can be used to articulate alternative relationships to time, and consequently, other political possibilities. Ghosts, families, and children are especially volatile rhetorical figures because of their potential to expose the mechanisms of societal organization--the construction of social subjects through their relationship to the time and the families of which they are presumably products--as negotiable processes rather than self-evident truths.
ContributorsSt-Georges, Charles (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Urioste, Carmen (Committee member) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT This thesis aims to demonstrate the validity of political violence in contemporary Chicano and Peruvian American narratives as a reflection of the sociopolitical situation of immigrants and their descendants in the United States (U.S.). The thesis explores the various ways in which contemporary Chicano and Peruvian American narratives present the political violence in the U.S. towards Mexican and Peruvian immigrants and Chicanos and Peruvian Americans examining the intersections that exist between the resistance and violence discourses and its sociopolitical consequences. Although the topic of political violence has been previously studied in U.S. and Latin American narratives throughout its history, its analysis has been insufficiently explored as far as contemporary narratives of the XXI century are concerned. With this in mind, two texts will be used to study this discourse of violence in Chicano and Peruvian American literature: Alejandro Morales' "Pequeña nación" (2005) and Daniel Alarcón's "Guerra en la penumbra" (2005). The thesis examines the immigrant as a center of discourse exploring the conflict between them and the institutions or groups in power that instigate this political violence. The first chapter covers the socio historical background regarding Mexican and Peruvian migration flows to the United States in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The second chapter introduces "The Triangle of Violence" proposed by Norwegian mathematician and sociologist Johan Galtung as the basis for the theoretical framework and approach of this analysis. Chapter three analyzes the Chicano short story "Pequeña nación" by Alejandro Morales. The analysis of the Peruvian American short story "Guerra en la penumbra" by Daniel Alarcón follows in chapter four. The conclusion emphasizes the problem of political violence experienced by immigrants in the U.S. in contemporary Chicano and Peruvian American narratives and possible solutions contained therein, protesting a problem that can hinder immigration policy reforms and the defense of human rights.
ContributorsSifuentes, Ana (Author) / Rosales, Jesus (Thesis advisor) / García-Fernández, Carlos J. (Thesis advisor) / Alarcon, Justo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Globalization has brought a renewed interest in the discourses of the past and national/ethnic identities that has been reflected in the cultural production and the social sciences around the globe. Historical novel (and their sequel telenovelas), a literary field closely linked to historiography, reflects, and has contributed to (re)shape the discourses of the past and identity in Latin America. Since the first decades of the 19th century until nowadays, Colombian novelists have explored Colombian identity through historical novels. Their plots and characters are highly influenced by new historiographical trends. During the19th and the first half of the 20th century, Romantic and Realist novels were generally constructed over historicist assumption of the past: the belief that it is possible to acquire a completely “objective” knowledge of the past. However, some outstanding Colombian historical novels, such as La Marquesa de Yolombó (1928), challenged this notion of the past. Since the last decades of the 20th century, Colombian historical novels share an attitude toward the past that Linda Hutcheon has defined as Historiographical Metafiction. This approach to history challenges the idea of an objective total history, and emphasizes the importance of the personal experiences, the subjectivity, of their characters and of the narrative voices. Donde no te Conozcan (2007), Trí¬ptico de la Infamia (2016), and Mancha de la Tierra (2014) are three Colombian historical novels written in the 21st century that share this attitude towards history. They question the nineteenth-century interpretations of Colombian history, especially those related to the role of Jews, Moors, Indigenous, Africans, and mestizos in the colonial social dynamics, and, therefore, in Colombian culture.
ContributorsRuiz-Olaya, Andrés F (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Sarreal, Jualia (Committee member) / Fredrick, Sharonah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Se examinan desde una perspectiva autobiográfica las obras de Yolanda Cruz, Saúl Cuevas, Víctor Fuentes, John Leguizamo, Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, Roberto Quesada, y Esmeralda Santiago bajo los filtros de los espacios creados por la migración y/o el exilio, para lo cual se toma en cuenta el bagaje cultural de objetos que cada uno de estos autores aporta en el panorama cultural euiberolatino en los Estados Unidos. Para su análisis crítico, se consideran en un primer plano el pensamiento en Imaginary Communities: Utopia, the Nation, and the Spatial Histories of Modernity (2002) de Phillip Wegner sobre las comunidades imaginarias creadas desde los espacios utópicos que se convierten en realidad desde un enfoque sociohistórico en un ambiente de Estado moderno. Asimismo, se interpreta la ideología como Misplaced Objects; Migrating Collections and Recollections in Europe and the Americas (2009) de Silvia Spitta sobre los objetos desubicados y la transformación que conlleva con dicho movimiento vía el desplazamiento en los espacios de migración y exilio de los autores en este estudio. Se consideran ciertas similares aportaciones existentes como Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook (2010) de Claudio Iván Remeseira cuyo estudio particular enfoca a unos habitantes euiberolatinos de la gran urbe neoyorquina. Para redondear el pensamiento crítico se ha incluido la obra Lugares decoloniales: Espacios de intervención en las Américas (2008), editada por Ramón Grosfoguel y Roberto Almanza Hernández. Este enfoque funciona como el marco crítico para la perspectiva de nuestro texto que examina los bagajes culturales de las regiones como Zacatecas-Durango y Oaxaca, México; La Habana, Cuba; Santurce, Puerto Rico; Olanchito, Honduras; Bogotá, Colombia y Madrid, España y hasta los de sus nuevos espacios en Phoenix, Los Ángeles, Miami-Chapel Hill, Manhattan, Queens y Santa Bárbara, en los Estados Unidos y más allá en Latinoamérica, Europa y África.
ContributorsVargas, Daniel Minerbi (Author) / Hernández-G., Manuel J (Thesis advisor) / Foster, David W (Committee member) / Rosales, Jesus (Committee member) / Garcia-Fernandez, Carlos J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Due to its interdisciplinary nature, the history of emotions has engaged much scholarly interest. This project draws from the historical, sociological and philosophical research on emotions to analyze the representation of emotions in narratives from Argentina and Chile. This historical investigation posits that socio-political, cultural and economic forces, which are represented in literature and film, shape emotions and emotional standards. The analysis of Rayuela (1963) by Julio Cortázar and Raúl Ruiz’s Tres Tristes Tigres (1968) is centered on the impact of Existentialism, capitalism and modernity on the construction of emotional standards in urban societies. The impact of militant groups in the shaping of collective emotions in Latin America during the 1960s and 70s is examined in Reina Roffé’s novel Monte de Venus (1973) and Aldo Francia’s film Ya no basta con rezar (1972). The analysis of Alberto Fuguet’s Las películas de mi vida (2002) and Pablo Larraín’s No (2012) sheds light on the paradigmatic shift in the construction of emotional standards resulting from the implementation of neoliberalism through dictatorships as well as the insertion into the globalized consumerist culture by way of technology and media. Finally, this project encourages future research of the emotions in literary and cultural studies of Latin America.
ContributorsBondi, Erika (Author) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Thesis advisor) / Foster, David W (Committee member) / Gil-Osle, Juan Pablo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Using Michel Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical approaches, this study analyzes the influence of discourse—particularly the discursive impact of the short story, novel, poetry, chronicle, essay, film, photography, and comics—in shaping how soccer has become known in Latin America. The analysis not only considers how the so-called “beautiful game” and related texts have been embedded with dominant ideologies—among these heteronormativity, nationalism, elitism, and neoliberalism—but also how resisting discursive forces have attempted to deconstruct these notions. The following pages demonstrate that soccer in Latin America represents more than just a mere sport, but rather a significant social and cultural entity that facilitates an understanding of the region. Furthermore, by providing a critical view of one of the region’s most powerful cultural institutions, this study sheds light on how dominant individuals use the sport and popular culture to construct knowledge and guide social practices.
ContributorsRidge, Patrick Thomas (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Urioste-Azcorra, Carmen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
As a result of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, works can be distributed and viewed at a global scale with the simple click of the mouse. One can even visit entire museums and virtually walk through their collections without having to leave one’s own seat. Furthermore, new software, programs, and digital tools facilitate and make possible the ability to experiment and create one’s art in ways that were previously unimaginable or even unheard of. This is also true with the dissemination of one’s art and the visibility of contemporary artists who create works pertaining to the digital realm. However, the availability, usage, and training associated with such technologies do not come without its own implications and drawbacks. Unfortunately, there exists a great disparity not only with access and availability of the Internet at a global level, but also a digital divide, which indicates that the technologies and sciences are “gendered”—for instance, the male majority in STEM professions and fields of study. When considering the Humanities, specifically the genre of contemporary art and literature, women’s marginalization is witnessed there too, as distinguished canonical works belong to predominantly Caucasian, Anglo-Saxon men. In the digital age then, Iberian and Latin American women writers and artists face the challenge of visibility and recognition in two territories—technology and contemporary artistic creation—dominated by men. This study gathers contemporary female artists of digital works originating from North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Spain who utilize a wide variety of tools to conduct and create their artwork. The artists and authors analyzed in this project include: Teresa Serrano (México, D.F. 1936-), Adriana Calatayud (México, D.F. 1967-), Ana Mendieta (Havana, 1948-1985), Maritza Molina (Havana), Yasmín S. Portales Machado (Havana, 1980-), María María Acha-Kutscher (Lima, 1968-), Praba Pilar (Colombia), María Cañas (Seville, 1972-), and Pilar Albarracín (Arcena, Huelva 1968-), with the objective of investigating the manner in which digital tools are being used by these women artists and writers for the purpose visibility, identity (de)construction, as spaces of resistance, and to explore how those messages are transmitted and transformed through digital mediums.
ContributorsByron, Jennifer Elaine (Author) / Urioste-Azcorra, Carmen (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia (Committee member) / Foster, David W (Committee member) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This doctoral dissertation proposes an analysis of a selection of photographic series by a diverse group of Latin American photographers such as Argentinian Gustavo Di Mario, Brazilians Claudio Edinger and Alair Gomes, and Mexican Dorian Ulises López Macías. The analyzed material focuses on a revision of characteristics of masculinity and imperative heteronormativity in the discourses on their respective national identities. The projects put-fourth by these four artists represent a political proposal that unveals the homoaffective possibilities of their photographic referents. Susan Sontag postulates in her On Photography (1979) that “the powers of photography have in effect de-Platonized our understanding of reality, making it less and less plausible to reflect upon our experience according to the distinction between images and things, between copies and originals” (179). These artists understand the power of the image and, through its meticulous composition, they propose to not only photograph, but to also narrate the reality of dissident identities and their belonging to a collective national identity.
ContributorsShalloe, Thomas J (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia M (Committee member) / Urioste-Azcorra, Carmen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
La autobiografía, como medio de expresión y reivindicación del yo, ofrece a las autoras/artistas femeninas la oportunidad de definirse a sí mismas. El género autobiográfico tiene orígenes muy antiguos y resulta fundamental en el proceso de construcción de la identidad por parte de mujeres pertenecientes a grupos étnicos minoritarios. El discurso autobiográfico permite a la mujer ser al mismo tiempo escultura y escultor, creador y creación. El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una nueva aproximación al universo femenino de la autorepresentación visual. La autonarración debería estar en el centro de la atención feminista, siendo uno de los métodos más efectivos que las mujeres pueden aplicar para hablar sobre sus experiencias y condiciones. Esta investigación intenta reunir voces multiétnicas y promueve un recurso interdisciplinario que interesa no solo a la literatura y la cultural, sino también a otros campos de las humanidades, como la historia, la sociología y los estudios de género y de la discapacidad. Una de las principales intenciones es desmantelar las formas tradicionales de identidad y destruir las fronteras sociales, adoptando la diferencia y la alteridad como un componente único de cada individuo.
Mi proyecto de disertación analiza textos autobiográficos femeninos en sus diferentes formas visuales poniendo especial énfasis en los países de Argentina, México y Estados Unidos. A través de narrativas personales, fotografías, películas, pinturas, murales y producciones digitales, estas obras femeninas examinan temas como la homofobia, la identidad política, la soberanía nativa, la maternidad, la identidad lesbiana y diferentes identidades culturales minoritarias. Algunas de las autoras seleccionadas viven al margen de la supremacía blanca por el hecho de pertenecer a grupos étnicos y sociales minoritarios. Otras voces viven al margen del sistema heteronormativo dominante para reconocerse a sí mismas como lesbianas o bisexuales. Más allá de estos contextos, todas las autoras se encuentran discriminadas por ser mujeres en un contexto patriarcal. Los marcos teóricos que se emplean incluyen en sí definiciones autobiográficas interdisciplinarias teorizadas exclusivamente por mujeres. Podrían mencionarse, por ejemplo, los conceptos de HERstory (Ashby y Gore 1995), Autohistoria (Anzaldúa 1999) Pathography (Hawkins 1999), Feminography (Abrams 2017) y Autobiografilm (Paola Lagos Labbé 2011). Las diferentes historias visuales exploran los diferentes matices de la identidad racial y/o lesbiana de las mujeres que a menudo se perciben como forasteras dentro de su propio país. Todas las artistas objetos de mi análisis se enfrentan a diferentes formas de represiones y están motivadas por un deseo de reconocimiento social. Estos grupos marginados invitan a los lectores a desarrollar nuevas formas de diálogos, prácticas y alianzas transculturales.
Mi proyecto de disertación analiza textos autobiográficos femeninos en sus diferentes formas visuales poniendo especial énfasis en los países de Argentina, México y Estados Unidos. A través de narrativas personales, fotografías, películas, pinturas, murales y producciones digitales, estas obras femeninas examinan temas como la homofobia, la identidad política, la soberanía nativa, la maternidad, la identidad lesbiana y diferentes identidades culturales minoritarias. Algunas de las autoras seleccionadas viven al margen de la supremacía blanca por el hecho de pertenecer a grupos étnicos y sociales minoritarios. Otras voces viven al margen del sistema heteronormativo dominante para reconocerse a sí mismas como lesbianas o bisexuales. Más allá de estos contextos, todas las autoras se encuentran discriminadas por ser mujeres en un contexto patriarcal. Los marcos teóricos que se emplean incluyen en sí definiciones autobiográficas interdisciplinarias teorizadas exclusivamente por mujeres. Podrían mencionarse, por ejemplo, los conceptos de HERstory (Ashby y Gore 1995), Autohistoria (Anzaldúa 1999) Pathography (Hawkins 1999), Feminography (Abrams 2017) y Autobiografilm (Paola Lagos Labbé 2011). Las diferentes historias visuales exploran los diferentes matices de la identidad racial y/o lesbiana de las mujeres que a menudo se perciben como forasteras dentro de su propio país. Todas las artistas objetos de mi análisis se enfrentan a diferentes formas de represiones y están motivadas por un deseo de reconocimiento social. Estos grupos marginados invitan a los lectores a desarrollar nuevas formas de diálogos, prácticas y alianzas transculturales.
ContributorsScerbo, Rosita (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Rosales, Jesus (Committee member) / García-Fernández, Carlos Javier (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
El presente estudio aborda aspectos de la monstruosidad desde una perspectiva integral y transdisciplinaria que combina los estudios poscoloniales, postmodernos, queer pero sobre todo postfeministas en el campo de la producción cultural latinoamericana. Esta combinación permite poner en perspectiva la posibilidades de resistencia al tiempo y espacio en que coaccionan los personajes protagónicos de las obras a analizar: los filmes La teta asustada (2009) de Claudia Llosa y la ópera prima de Rosario García Montero, Las malas intenciones (2011); de igual forma se trabaja con la colección de cuentos Falo de Mulher (2002) y el cuento "Mãe o cacete" (2004) de Ivanna Arruda Leite; y por último, un estudio de la leyenda de la X’tabay perteneciente al sureste mexicano junto con un análisis discursivo de la cobertura de los feminicidios por parte de la prensa yucateca. La monstruosidad al interior de este trabajo será entendida como una posibilidad de aesthet(h)ical encounter, el cual combina, como su nombre lo indica, poéticas, estéticas, políticas y éticas al respecto de sujetos/personajes que se encuentran en resistencia en cuanto al acceso de la subjetividad y en contraposición a, lo denominado como, el tiempo y el espacio del monstruo.
ContributorsOrtiz Manzanilla, Roberto de Jesús (Author) / Foster, David W (Thesis advisor) / Tompkins, Cynthia M (Committee member) / Bezerra, Ligia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019