Political Science Department Speaker Event

Disruptive Archives: Feminist Memories of Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars

Viviana MacManus

(Occidental College)

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

11:45-1:15pm

Hall Building, Room H-1220

Dr. MacManus will present on the gender and state violence that were normalized during Mexico's so-called “Dirty War” (1960-1980s) and on the contemporary forms of gender violence engendered during the militarization project. Drawing on oral histories, human rights reports, literature, and film, she will examine cultural narratives of survival and resistance articulated by Mexican women involved in social movements against the state. In examining narratives of loss, haunting, and trauma, a Latin American feminist theory of justice emerges, one that positions these women as protagonists of these histories and attests to their very presence, survival, and resistance. 

Viviana MacManus is Associate Professor of Critical Theory & Social Justice at Occidental College.  Her research and teaching focus on Latin American and Latinx feminist theory, literature, film, and cultural studies.