Me Cheeta: The Autobiography James Lever London: Fourth Estate (2008) 2009. I spoke at the Revisiting Star Studies conference in June held at the University of Newcastle about the online presence of Mexican male stars from the so-called Mexican Golden Age. As part of this I made reference to my article on María Félix and…
Category: blog
In defense of Pacific Rim
Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (2013) has gotten quite a drubbing from film critics. Jonathan Romney in The Independent described it as an example of where “even smart, idiosyncratic directors can make dumb, impersonal movies. And Pacific Rim is the flashiest, clumsiest, most heavily armed in the salvo of Stupid Bombs that Hollywood has been bombarding us with”. He is…
On death and its representation in Mexico
There is a frequent trope in reporting about Mexico that suggests that Mexicans have a special relationship with death. The Mexican poet and essayist, Octavio Paz wrote an influential essay in his Laberinto de la soledad/Labyrinth of Solitude (1950) exploring the particularities of the Mexican attitude to death through the lens of the annual day of the…
LASA 2013 – Roundtable
I blogged about an inspirational roundtable at the 2013 Latin American Studies Association conference held in Washington on the Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies website. You can read it here.
On Galleries and Exhibits: Review of “What we caught we threw away, what we didn’t catch we kept” Mariana Castillo Deball.
Recently, while in Glasgow I went into the Centre for Contemporary Arts. After going into the exhibition space (which consists of three rooms) and taking in the exhibit, I went out into the café and tweeted: I wasn’t sure what I had just been looking at. I had read the initial overview on the outside…
Noam Chomsky’s lecture in Dublin
On Wednesday the 3rd of April 2013, I attended a lecture by Noam Chomsky who was invited by the Trinity College, Dublin and University College Dublin debating societies. This was the inaugural Frontline Defenders‘ lecture held in the RDS in Dublin. Chomsky, by his own admission, is not a lively speaker, but his breadth of knowledge is…
What I’m Talking About when I Write About Women and Mexicans*
I wrote a blog on Mexicans as Violent Narcos in Breaking Bad some weeks ago, but felt uneasy about it afterwards. I felt a similar sense of unease about an earlier post about Miss Bala. This was further sparked after listening to some vodcasts by Anita Sarkeesian on Feminist Frequency. Here, I hope to tease out this…
Grupo de Estudios Americanos
This is one of interest to those studying American history who speak Spanish. It is largely an aggregate site, but also has interesting reviews of books, films and events. It is sporadically updated, but has some interesting analysis and insight. In their own words: “Grupo de Estudios Americanos (GEA) nació entre personas ligadas al Instituto…
Mexicans as Violent Narcos in Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is a high quality drama created by Vince Gilligan which follows the story of Walt (Bryan Cranston) who, when diagnosed with lung cancer, decides to become a methamphetamine cook. This decision is justified through the lack of affordability of medical care in the US, a highly politicized topic there. As a chemistry teacher…
His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Víctor Jara
The full review will be published in the Journal of Socialist History. Today, I have been working on a review of His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Víctor Jara, a book of lyrics and poetry by the Chilean folk singer, Víctor Jara, whose life story has been overshadowed by his torture and death, yet the power…