“Ficciones endeudadas latinoamericanas: el poder mimético y ficcional de la deuda/Indebted Latin American Fictions: The Power of Debt” (presented in Spanish with interpretation provided)

About the presentation: In this lecture, I will explore functions of debt as a literary motive in cultural productions from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Cuba. I 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. I will also talk about how some authors reproduce a discourse wherein victims, especially women, are obligated to satisfy and comply with hegemonic authorities. Furthermore, I analyze how these narratives transform victims into sinners. Finally, I 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 is the editorial assistant for the book El cisne, la espiga y la cruz: Poesía religiosa del modernismo hispanoamericano and she was a research assistant for multiple articles on this literary movement working with unpublished manuscripts of poet Rubén Darío. She specializes in Ethics, Literary Realism, and Economic Theories, and her research focuses on contemporary Latin American Literature from Mexico and the Southern Cone. Her master’s thesis explores functions of money as a literary motif and her doctoral dissertation explores debt as a type of violence. She has been awarded writing and research fellowships such as the Barbara Hycnar Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, a one-year Graduate School Fellowship, and the Dissertation Write-Up Award. Her doctoral dissertation was approved with distinction, and she is currently an independent scholar transforming her doctoral dissertation into a book manuscript.

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