[Desplazarse más abajo para ver la versión en español]

I am Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Latin American Cultural Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. I am also Co-Director of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

My research examines the intersection of race and cultural production in contemporary Latin America. My monograph The Darkening Nation (University of Wales Press, 2018) explores the connections between the 2001 financial meltdown in Argentina and the crisis of narratives of whiteness and national belonging, by examining literary texts, popular music, artworks and films. I am also the co-editor of Chile desde los estudios culturales (Universidad Finis Terrae, 2019) and Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America and the Caribbean (Institute of Latin American Studies, 2019). 

Between 2020 and 2023 I served as a co-investigator in Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America (CARLA), a project awarded a £1million grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) that explored how artists in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia address racial diversity in their work and how they use their art to challenge racism. During this period I also acted as an international collaborator for the Fondecyt project “Disaster writing in recent Chilean fiction”, directed by Dr. Gustavo Carvajal (Universidad Finis Terrae).

Between 2023 and 2025, I will be directing the AHRC project Indigenous Youth Subcultures and New Media in Latin America, which was awarded £250,000 to study how young Mapuche and Kichwa creators and consumers use social media to structure particular identities around music, visual culture, and fashion, among others.

Between 2024 and 2027, I will be an international collaborator in “Disaster writing and the Pink Tide in Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia y Venezuela (1999-2019)”, funded by Fondecyt and directed by Dr. Carvajal.

-----

Soy profesor titular de Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos en el Departamento de Lenguas y Culturas Modernas. También soy codirector del Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe.

Mi investigación examina la intersección entre lo racial y la producción cultural en América Latina. Mi monografía The Darkening Nation (2018) analiza las conexiones entre el colapso financiero de 2001 en Argentina y la crisis de las narrativas de blanquitud, tomando ejemplos de la literatura, música, cine, pintura y fotografía. También soy coeditor de Chile desde los estudios culturales (2019) y Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America (2019).

Entre 2020 y 2023 me desempeñé como coinvestigador en Culturas del Antirracismo en América Latina (CARLA), un proyecto financiado por el Arts and Humanities Research Council (Reino Unido) que exploró cómo artistas de Argentina, Brasil y Colombia abordan la diversidad racial en su trabajo y cómo utilizan su arte para desafiar el racismo. Durante este período también me desempeñé como colaborador internacional del proyecto Fondecyt «La escritura de desastres en la ficción chilena reciente», dirigido por el Dr. Gustavo Carvajal (Universidad Finis Terrae).

Entre 2023 y 2025, dirigiré el proyecto AHRC Indigenous Youth Subcultures and New Media in Latin America, que estudia cómo personas que se autodefinen como jóvenes y mapuches y runas (kichwas) utilizan los medios sociales para articular nuevas formas de activismo indígena.

Entre 2024 y 2027, seré colaborador internacional en «La escritura de desastres y la Marea Rosa en América Latina: Argentina, Bolivia y Venezuela (1999-2019)», financiado por Fondecyt y dirigido por el Dr. Carvajal.

My current research interests include:

• Race and ethnicity in contemporary Latin America
• Southern Cone and Andean literary and cultural production
• Kitsch and the politics of good and bad taste
• Visual culture and art
• Whiteness studies
• Race and social media

I am keen to supervise postgraduate students with an interest in race and culture in Latin America, literary and cultural production in the Southern Cone and Andean countries, contemporary Latin American visual culture, art and popular music, new media, and post- and anticolonial epistemologies.

PhD students:

• Nicolle Alzamora - 2022 (in progress): 'Panama as a Point of Transit: Identity and Memory Practices'. Role: co-supervisor (main supervisor: Dr James Scorer).
• Dylan Bradbury - 2020 (MA + PhD; in progress): 'Aural Media as a Tool for the Consolidation of Identity: Mapuche Uses of Sound in Asserting Cultural & Territorial Autonomy in Contemporary Argentina'. Role: main supervisor (co-supervisor: Prof Peter Wade).
• Rodrigo López Martínez - 2019-2022: 'Fictional Avant-gardes in Latin American Literature (1973-2015)'. Role: main supervisor (co-supervisor Dr James Scorer).
• Lisa Marie Simpson - 2018 (in progress): 'Non-Human Animals, Violence and Power in Brazilian Literature and Film 1930 to the Present Day'. Role: second supervisor (main supervisor: Prof Lúcia Sá). 
• Nicola Runciman - 2013-2017: 'Image, Process, Experience: Exploring the Landscapes of Chilean Cinema (2008-2014)'. Role: co-supervisor (main supervisor: Prof Chris Perriam).

I regularly convene the following units:

• SPLA31092 The Politics of Business in Latin America
• LALC70011/22 Theories and Methods in Modern Languages and Cultures I and II

I also contribute to the following units:

• SPLA20872 Culture and Cold War in Latin America
• SPLA10410 Cultures of the Hispanic World
• SPLA10420 Themes in Spanish and Latin American Studies
• ELAN60362 Border Crossings: Comparative Cultures of Diaspora
• LALC61052 Popular Music and Identity
• SPLA30000 Dissertation