I am Senior Lecturer (roughly equivalent to an associate professor) in Latin American Cultural Studies in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. I am also Co-Director of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

My research examines the intersection of race and cultural production in contemporary Latin America. My monograph The Darkening Nation (University of Wales Press, 2018) explores the connections between the 2001 financial meltdown in Argentina and the crisis of narratives of whiteness and national belonging, by examining literary texts, popular music, artworks and films. I am also the co-editor of Chile desde los estudios culturales (Universidad Finis Terrae, 2019) and Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America and the Caribbean (Institute of Latin American Studies, 2019).

I am currently a co-investigator in Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America (CARLA), a three-year project (starting January 2020) awarded a £1million grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) to explore how artists in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia address racial diversity in their work and how they use their art to challenge racism. The project is directed by Prof Peter Wade. 

From August 2023 I will be PI in the AHRC-funded project Indigenous Youth Subcultures and New Media in Latin America.

It's my belief that a university should be a place where academics and students come together to scrutinise the world with intellectual rigor and curiosity. I, therefore, don't worship the current gods of Management, Success, Rankings, Competition and Big Shiny Buildings. 

My current research interests include:

• Race and ethnicity in contemporary Latin America
• Southern Cone literary and cultural production
• Kitsch and the politics of good and bad taste
• Visual culture and art
• Whiteness studies
• Race and social media

I am keen to supervise postgraduate students with an interest in race and culture in Latin America, literary and cultural production in the Southern Cone, contemporary Latin American visual culture, art and popular music, and post- and anticolonial epistemologies.

PhD students:

• Nicolle Alzamora - 2022 (in progress): 'Panama as a Point of Transit: Identity and Memory Practices'. Role: co-supervisor (main supervisor: Dr James Scorer).
• Dylan Bradbury - 2020 (MA + PhD; in progress): 'Aural Media as a Tool for the Consolidation of Identity: Mapuche Uses of Sound in Asserting Cultural & Territorial Autonomy in Contemporary Argentina'. Role: main supervisor (co-supervisor: Prof Peter Wade).
• Rodrigo López Martínez - 2019-2022: 'Fictional Avant-gardes in Latin American Literature (1973-2015)'. Role: main supervisor (co-supervisor Dr James Scorer).
• Lisa Marie Simpson - 2018 (in progress): 'Non-Human Animals, Violence and Power in Brazilian Literature and Film 1930 to the Present Day'. Role: second supervisor (main supervisor: Prof Lúcia Sá). 
• Nicola Runciman - 2013-2017: 'Image, Process, Experience: Exploring the Landscapes of Chilean Cinema (2008-2014)'. Role: co-supervisor (main supervisor: Prof Chris Perriam).

I am the convenor for the final-year modules SPLA31121 Plural Cultures of Latin American and the Caribbean and SPLA31092 The Politics of Business in Latin America.

I also contribute to the following units:

SPLA10410 Cultures of the Hispanic World

SPLA10420 Themes in Spanish and Latin American Studies

SPLA20862 Cultures of Revolution in Latin America

SPLA31121 Plural Cultures of Latin American and the Caribbean

ELAN60362 Border Crossings: Comparative Cultures of Diaspora

WRLD10022 World Literatures: Definitions and Debates

LALC61052 Popular Music and Identity