Spanish and Latin American Studies seminar

Higher Degree Research Showcase

Thursday 17 November 2022, 5–6:30pm AEDT (Sydney time)

In-person: SLC Common Room 536, Brennan MacCallum Building (A18), University of Sydney
Online: Join via Zoom (ID: 85829641413)

Women’s Gendered Geographies of Fear Post-migration – Nicole Fidalgo

Abstract

Sara Ahmed’s (2007) phenomenology of whiteness refers to ‘the ways in which bodies come to feel at home in spaces by being orientated in this way and that… some bodies will be more at home in a world that is orientated around whiteness’ (p. 160). It is also relevant to consider how one experiences spaces based on the gender and sexual configurations made to feel ‘more at home’. While people experience spaces differently, navigating spaces is not always predictable and depends on the interconnections of race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomics as well as the time and locus in which the “navigation” occurs.

This paper argues that a culture focused on body politics affects women not only as targets of harassment and violence, it is also implicit in women’s apariencia (appearance), as well as the everyday conscious and subconscious mind mapping of a gendered geography of fear (Dunckel Graglia 2016). This paper evaluates narratives shared by three Mexicans post-migration in relation to how women in Sydney and Mexico City navigate spaces informed by real or perceived fear of harassment and according to how some bodies feel ‘more at home’ than others.

About the presenter

Nicole Fidalgo is a Doctoral Student in Discipline of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Sydney. Her current research is concerned with the lived experiences of Mexican migrants. Ongoing investigation also contributes to the body of work on contemporary representations and discourses of gender and sexuality in Mexican literature and film, with an interest in audience-reception methodologies.

The Revolutionary Aesthetic of the Public Intellectual: Cortázar in Popular Culture – Fernando Bayer

Abstract

This presentation aims to consider the extent to which Julio Cortázar’s enduring relevance in his native Argentina can simultaneously be attributed to and reflected in the space he continues to occupy within the popular cultural imagination. While it is clear that the establishment of Cortázar as an icon was dependent upon the critical success of his published works, it is nevertheless possible to identify an enduring familiarity with Cortázar as a figure that has become partially independent from his literary production, and instead, representative of broader narratives and debates within Argentine society. Central to this construction is Cortázar’s paradoxical ability to embody a range of ambiguous and contradictory positions as a result of factors such as his privileged status as a public intellectual, his revolutionary politics, as well as his commitment to aesthetic experimentation and playfulness.

By undertaking an investigation into the manner in which a range of popular cultural objects, such as toponymic spaces, artistic and cultural installations, newspaper and magazine articles and covers, as well as adaptations of Cortázar’s own work to name a few, contribute towards the understanding of Cortázar as a public figure within the country, I aim not only to identify and categorise the most common perceptions towards Cortázar within Argentinean popular culture, but also to reveal how the absence of such conceptions within the English-speaking world have impacted upon his legacy in translation.

About the presenter

Fernando Bayer is a secondary school teacher undertaking his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Sydney. His research interests include literary translation, Latin American history and politics, as well as the way in which Latin American society and culture are represented in English-speaking countries.

For more information, contact: Dr Vek Lewis (vek.lewis@sydney.edu.au)

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