Madness, Memory and Violence in Latin American Culture

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CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS


The eras of violence that plagued numerous regions of Latin America during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Franco; Martín-Baró; Menjívar & Rodríguez; Puget & Kaes; Riquelme; and others) have left a strong imprint on Latin American literature and other cultural expressions such as film, music, theater and visual arts. It is striking that in a considerable number of these artistic productions mental perturbations related to situations of extreme violence are a recurrent feature.

However, the different functions of madness in Latin American culture in relation to the representation of violence and the transmission of memory have not yet been investigated in a systematic manner. A number of studies on madness in the cultural field underscore the thematic, discursive, narratological, critical-evaluative and other possibilities of cultural representations of madness (Leader; Mitchell; Rieger; Feder; Thiher; Sass; Saunders), for example, their rhetorical effectiveness (Felman).

This dossier will take a similar approach to explore the potential of madness in Latin American culture in relation to the representation of violence and the transmission of memory. Contributions to the dossier are invited in which the reflection on the relation between madness, violence and/or memory is central, focusing on the fields of Latin American literature, film, visual arts, theatre, popular culture and other cultural productions. We also encourage papers in which the relation between madness, violence and/or memory is explored from the perspective of other disciplines, such as psychology, psychiatry, philosophy or anthropology.

Contributions of 5.000 to 7.000 words can be submitted in English or Spanish before 1 December 2016. They can be send to madnessandmemory@gmail.com. The journal’s editorial guidelines can be found on this website: http://alternativas.osu.edu/en/guidelines.html.