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Research Interests
20th and 21st century Mexican literature, border studies, gender and sexuality, postcolonial studies, aesthetics of violence, narcoliterature and Hispanic musical cultures.
Cynical Aesthetics: Narcocorridos in the Aftermath of the Liberation of Ovidio Guzmán
Accepted for publication at Transmodernity Journal, revisions pending
Abstract: I analyze a set of narcocorridos related to the recent events of October 17, 2019 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, when the Mexican State and the Sinaloa Cartel came to a head over the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son, Ovidio Guzmán. As a reaction to the violent events, a series of narcocorridos emerged on social media revealing an aspect of Mexican collective consciousness that is the focus of this study.
I rely on Peter Sloterdijk’s discussion on cynicism in postmodern societies in order to elucidate the various modalities of cynicism performed in these corridos. I argue that, in the backdrop of these artistic productions, lies a Mexican collective consciousness that grapples with profound distrust of the Mexican State and a hopelessness about the possibility of building a society free of corruption and violence, while at the same time serving as a vehicle for expressing dissent and critique of law and authority. Further, the article traces the historical precedents of narcocorridos, showing how this contemporary phenomenon of critiquing law and authority through popular ballads is not unique to postmodern cultures, but instead is part of a long tradition that today is utilized to contend with the extreme violence that has become commonplace in Northern Mexico. While for outsiders this phenomenon might be interpreted as a strictly cynical glorification of narcotrafficking tied to consumerist culture, this paper looks further into the role these ballads may be playing in assimilating, interpreting and processing the violence and corruption that plagues contemporary Mexican society.
Commodities-made-flesh: The Weaponization of Women's Bodies in Las mujeres matan mejor by Omar Nieto
In Progress
Abstract: In Gore Capitalism, the philosopher Sayak Valencia argues that the narcoliberal project that has come to define contemporary Mexican society has turned bodies and human life into “commodities-made-flesh.” That is, the margins between market commodities and human life have narrowed in an economic system that profits from death and the accumulation of bodies, turning bodies and human life into commodities- made-flesh through predatory techniques of extreme violence, like kidnappings and contract killing.
In light of Valencia’s contributions, I discuss a contemporary Mexican novel by Omar Nieto, Las mujeres matan mejor (Women Kill Best) (2013), in which the structuring effects of narcoliberalism have trickled down to all aspects of society, including the female body. As the title already suggests, in this novel the female body has been transformed into a commodified tool of narco-warfare and profit-making. I focus on the contentious space that women’s bodies occupy when they are mobilized into roles that violate deeply rooted conceptions of femininity as life-givers and nurturers of human life. Under the market logic of narcoliberalism, women have become destroyers of life in their roles as hired hitwomen (sicarias a sueldo) and snipers (francotiradoras). I explore the transformation of women’s bodies into weapons of warfare and tools for profit-making in this economic system, even as their sexualized bodies continue to be a currency of exchange and necro-empowerment through predatory uses of their bodies.
Student-Centered Research
An Exploration of Hispanic Musical Cultures
I am excited to engage undergraduates in research related to the musical cultures of the Hispanic world. I will guide students in exploring the links between historical processes, such as colonial legacies of economic, racial and gender-based violence, and their manifestations in the lyrical music of the Hispanic world. Students will explore the central role that songs have played in disrupting or affirming power structures throughout the various periods in the history of Spanish language music, beginning with the qiyan of Islamic Spain (a specific group of enslaved and freed women in Islamic Spain) through to border musicians such the Tejana singer Selana, or the contemporary Tejano band Grupo Frontera which fuse Northern Mexican regional music with tecno, pop, Latin Jazz and other musical expressions. Students will explore the social power of music, paying attention to its subversive and destructive potential, as well to its unifying qualities as vehicles for identity formation and collective bonding across borders, languages, and cultures.
The course, Music, Rebellion and Mexican Border Cultures, will guide students in the study of the development of the so-called corrido (or traditional Mexican narrative ballads). Students will trace the evolution of this musical literary genre through various historical periods and aesthetic iterations along Hispanic border cultures, starting with the medieval Spanish jácara, a genre characterized by themes of criminality and rebellion, themes that will resonate in later Mexican border corridos. Students will focus on periods of collective struggle and widespread national violence in Mexican history, such as the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican American War, and the so-called contemporary Narco-State as inflection points that influenced the various modern iterations of the corrido--narcocorridos, corridos alterados, corridos bélicos, and corridos tumbados--as genres born out of the liminal space of the US/Mexico borderlands.
As part of the course, students will explore the musical cultures of their surrounding Latinx community by going to local music venues where live Regional Mexican music is played. Students will design research questions around the topics discussed in class, including the nature of singing as a historical and cross-cultural phenomenon, paying attention to the socio-political context in which the music is born and the social purpose it serves among Mexican diasporic communities in the US.
Music in Second-Language Teaching
Warming up to music: incorporating audio texts in second-language teaching
Work-in-progress presented at the Lilly Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching and Active Learning, 2022.
Music is a delicate tool which, when used in a second language classroom, can either facilitate or strain the language-learning process (Kramer, 2001). As such, careful consideration must be given to how music is incorporated in the classroom. While adhering to second-language teaching methodological principles (Long, 2009), my research focuses on a pedagogical procedure that turns lyrical songs into warm-up listening comprehension activities that target auditory comprehension and recall of newly introduced vocabulary. I then discuss how the music-based warm up activity can be used as a thematic springboard of rich input (Long, 2009) from which to design follow-up task-supported vocabulary lessons.
The Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation at UCIrvine generously sponsored my participation in this conference and invited me to share my reflections in their DTEI Blog.
Public-Facing Research and Poetry
My poetry has been featured in the California Quarterly from the California State Poetry Society and in Eyes, Windows and Souls: An Anthology of Poetry from Goldscript Publishing.
Mariela Varona Roque: "Entre café y café y cigarro y cigarro" by Jeanie R C Toscano
In 2020 I had the pleasure of speaking with the brilliant Cuban writer Mariela Varona Roque in a café in the city of Holguín, Cuba. In this interview, she tells of the beginning stages of her writing career, of current writing projects and future dystopias.
I was invited to participate in UCI's School of Humanities halloween project "International Haunts." I contributed by translating the short story "Alta cocina" (High Cuisine) by the poet and story teller Ámparo de Ávila from Zacatecas, Mexico.
With the Cuban writer Mariela Varona Roque at Café Les Amis in Holguín, Cuba. January 2020
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