Ficciones endeudadas latinoamericanas: el poder mimético y ficcional de la deuda (presented in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation)

This lecture,  will explore functions of debt as a literary motive in cultural productions from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Cuba. The presenter will argue that debts are used as instruments of coercive power. This indebted state transforms, punishes, and tortures individuals who are obligated to pay for others’ needs not with money, but with their bodies and ethical currencies. The talk will also examine how some authors reproduce a discourse wherein victims, especially women, are obligated to satisfy and comply with hegemonic authorities. Furthermore, narratives will be analyzed by how they transform victims into sinners. Finally, the presenter will debate that depictions of debtors and creditors in these narratives play an important role in the perpetuation (or dissolution) of this type of violence in our own reality.

About the speaker: Karen García Escorcia holds a PhD in Spanish from UW-Madison, and an MA in Spanish from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She specializes in Ethics, Literary Realism, and Economic Theories, and her research focuses on contemporary Latin American Literature from Mexico and the Southern Cone.

Register Here: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0sdO6hqjgpHdFhd3JhDfGUzsvQ5do6YZf-