RESEARCH SEMINAR

DR ANA CRUZ GARCIA

[Department of Hispanic Studies, UCC]

“Lesbian Love: Relationships that Kill and Heal”

This paper examines homosexual and heterosexual relationships in the novel Infinita by woman writer, Ethel Krauze. In a conservative Mexican society, discussions of lesbianism and literary portrayal of the lesbian body are rarely if at all visible. This timid exposure of homosexuality in Mexican women writing goes hand in hand with the ambivalent visibility that feminine writing has received in Mexico since the eighties. With this correspondence in mind, this paper examines the textual exposure of lesbian relationships in Infinita to shed some light on the way they are portrayed or the way they are not.

MR DYLAN BRENNAN

[Department of Hispanic Studies, UCC]

“El Despojo: Rulfo’s Unwritten Screenplay”

Recently returned from Mexico City, where he was researching the lesser known works of Juan Rulfo at UNAM and the Fundación Rulfo, Dylan Brennan is studying for a PhD in Hispanic Studies under the supervision of Prof. Nuala Finnegan. Dylan has completed a BA in Italian and Spanish & Portuguese at Trinity College Dublin (1998-2002), a MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at UCD (2003-2004) and a Diploma in Irish Language from NUI, Galway (2006-2008). Dylan’s seminar will focus on Rulfo’s involvement in the experimental short film from 1960 entitled ‘El despojo’.

MS NIAMH McNAMARA

[Department of Hispanic Studies, UCC]

“Moraga and the Mother Figure: Mother Archetypes in the work of Cherrie Moraga”

This paper will focus on the manner in which Mexican mythology has informed lesbian feminist discourse within the Chicano/a community in the United States. In particular it will engage with ideas and works from leading Chicana lesbian feminist and poet Cherrie Moraga who re-imagines these myths in order to re-construct gender roles within the Chicano/a society. The paper is part of a comparative thesis which will investigate the usage of Mexican mythology within two generations of Chicana writers. It will examine the manner in which these myths and archetypes are used in relation to identity and sexuality. 

Friday, 11th December, 2009

3.00 p.m.  O’Rahilly Building, Room 1.32

All Welcome