BY ADRIAN JOHNSON COMIC BOOKS, originally created as entertainment for children, were long relegated to dime-store magazine racks, children’s bookshelves, and the cheap bin at used bookstores. While sales of comics today are struggling, in recent years they have come to occupy a more important … [Read more...] about Cuba’s Revolutionary Comics: The Caridad Blanco Collection of Historietas Cubanas
Arte/Letras
Interview: Gabriela Siracusano
ART HISTORIAN GABRIELA SIRACUSANO studies the material dimension of artistic production in artworks from the sixteenth century to the present. An internationally known and highly sought-after scholar, she is director of the Research Center for Art, Materiality, and Culture at the Instituto sobre … [Read more...] about Interview: Gabriela Siracusano
Louder Than Hell: The Rise of Latinx and Native American Metal
BY LUIS ZAPATA When the mode of the music changes, the walls of the city shake. —Allen Ginsberg, paraphrasing Plato ROCK ’N’ ROLL has been the soundtrack of youth rebellion for almost eight decades. It is one of the United States’ most powerful cultural exports to the world. It may seem cliché to … [Read more...] about Louder Than Hell: The Rise of Latinx and Native American Metal
Tan Cerca y Tan Lejos: Cómo un Grupo de Deportados Está Creando Solidaridad en la Ciudad de México
Leer en inglés. POR ALVARO CÉSPEDES Ana Laura López, de 43 años, estaba por abordar un avión de Chicago a México el 30 de septiembre de 2016. Ella recuerda la fecha claramente, ya que su vida nunca volvería a ser la misma. “Nunca pensé que me fuera a pasar a mí”, dijo López, sentada en un … [Read more...] about Tan Cerca y Tan Lejos: Cómo un Grupo de Deportados Está Creando Solidaridad en la Ciudad de México
A Matter of Perspective: Violence, Victims, and the Quest for Dignity in Memory
BY RICARDO CASTRO AGUDELO COUNT TO FOUR. One number per second. One . . . Two . . . Three . . . Fo . . . Nearly four seconds. That’s how long it took for the Monaco building to collapse amidst a slow-rising cloud of gray dust on February 22, 2019, in Medellín, Colombia. The Monaco, an … [Read more...] about A Matter of Perspective: Violence, Victims, and the Quest for Dignity in Memory
A Love Letter to the Library
LLILAS Benson is proud to announce the publication of A Library for the Americas: The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection by the University of Texas Press (August 2018). Founded in 1921, the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin has become one of … [Read more...] about A Love Letter to the Library
Faculty Spotlight: Jason Borge
BY SUSANNA SHARPE In his new book, Tropical Riffs: Latin America and the Politics of Jazz (Duke, 2018), Jason Borge uses jazz as a way to interrogate the complex intersections of North and South, race and class, cultural identity, and even politics and foreign policy. The very earliest seeds … [Read more...] about Faculty Spotlight: Jason Borge
Faculty Spotlight: Kelly S. McDonough
BY SUSANNA SHARPE There is a term in the Nahuatl language that means learned person, sage, or knowledge keeper: itxtlamati (plural, ixtlamatinih), a compound of the words meaning face and to know. The concept of knowledge gleaned from experience is central in the work of Kelly S. McDonough, … [Read more...] about Faculty Spotlight: Kelly S. McDonough
Alumni Spotlight: A Language Is Not a Widget
BY JOSEPH M. PIERCE It has been five years since I completed a PhD in Spanish American Literature, and seven since completing the MA in Latin American Studies at LLILAS. A lot has changed in the past decade. But change is always a matter of perspective. I was recently at LLILAS for a conference … [Read more...] about Alumni Spotlight: A Language Is Not a Widget
María Luisa Puga: A Life in Diaries
BY JOSÉ MONTELONGO Deciding how to end a novel is the author’s privilege. To write novels for a living is a volatile career choice, at least when it comes to paying rent, but the destiny and shape of your characters is not volatile at all, it’s your prerogative—you are the one choosing when and … [Read more...] about María Luisa Puga: A Life in Diaries
