Our work seeks to better understand the dynamics of cultural production in Latin America and question existing interpretive frameworks to approach the diversity of the region. Recent events include a roundtable with Argentine authors Carlos Gamerro and Paula Varsavsky, the one-day colloquium Shaping Nature, Shaping Humans: Entwined Landscapes in Latin America, and the seminar series After the Thaw: Cultural Approaches to Research on Cuba. We have also recently secured AHRC funding for the International Networking Project ‘Afro-Latin (in)visibility and the UN Decade: Cultural Politics in Motion in Nicaragua, Colombia and the UK’. Our research projects and public engagement extend beyond the university to collaborate with dynamic cultural organisations and communitarian groups.
We have a thriving Latin Americanist postgraduate community, with particular strengths in Latin American narrative, poetry and film, clustering around Chile and Argentina. We also have research expertise in a wide range of other areas, in particular women’s writing in Latin America, gender and sexuality in visual cultures, 19th century Latin America, Latin American cinema, Indigenous and Afro-descendant filmmaking, Cuban post-1959 culture, and Brazilian cultural studies. We have an exciting programme of cultural events, including the weekly reading group ‘Poema de la semana’, the annual Latin American Cultural Colloquium, hosted by the Centre, and frequent research talks, either by visiting speakers, or showcasing the research interests of postgraduates and staff. We also benefit from the participation of Latin American writers and artists in the various Edinburgh Festivals, including the book and film festivals.
