Contact details
- Name:
- Dr Niall Geraghty
- Qualifications:
- MPhil and PhD in Latin American Studies, (Cantab); MA (hons) in English Literature and Spanish (University of Glasgow)
- Position/Fellowship type:
- Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin American Studies
- Fellowship term:
- 01-Sep-2016 to 31-Jul-2018
- Institute:
- Institute of Languages Cultures and Societies
- Location:
- Institute of Latin American Studies University of London Senate House Malet Street London WC1E 7HU
- Phone:
- 02078628860
- Email address:
- niall.geraghty@sas.ac.uk
Research Summary and Profile
- Research interests:
- Cultural memory, Culture, Language and Literature (Spanish), Literatures in a modern language, Screen Studies
- Regions:
- South America
- Summary of research interests and expertise:
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My research focusses on the intersections between critical theory, philosophy and politics within contemporary Latin American cultural production. I have published several articles and my book The Polyphonic Machine: Capitalism, Political Violence, and Resistance in Contemporary Argentine Literature is forthcoming with the University of Pittsburgh Press. The book involves the detailed analysis of selected texts by the Argentine authors César Aira, Marcelo Cohen and Ricardo Piglia written in the period 1979-1998, and argues that the authors propound a common analysis of Argentine politics during the twentieth century, and create a synergetic philosophical critique of Argentine capitalism and political violence.
I am presently researching the work of Argentine director Jonathan Perel, utilising the investigation of his unique cinematic work in order to exlpore the politics of memory and memorialisation in Argentina at the turn of the twenty-first century. Additionally, I am co-editing the volume Creative Spaces: Urban Culture and Marginality in Latin America, with Adriana Massidda (University of Cambridge, The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL).
Finally, I have recently secured a Leverhlume Early Career Fellowship to support a long-term research project which involves a radical re-examination of the work of Argentine artist León Ferrari (1920-2013) and explores the interrelations between politics and religion in twentieth-century Argentina, and the potential correlations between contemporary philosophy and liberation theology.
- Publication Details
-
Related publications/articles:
Date Details 22-Jan-2019 The Polyphonic Machine: Capitalism, Political Violence, and Resistance in Contemporary Argentine Literature Monographs
Focusing on the work of the Argentine authors César Aira, Marcelo Cohen, and Ricardo Piglia, The Polyphonic Machine conducts a close analysis of the interrelations between capitalism and political violence in late twentieth-century Argentina. Taking a long historical view, the book considers the most recent Argentine dictatorship of 1976–1983 together with its antecedents and its after-effects, exploring the transformations in power relations and conceptions of resistance which accompanied the political developments experienced throughout this period. By tracing allusive fragments of Argentine political history and drawing on a range of literary and theoretical sources Geraghty proposes that Aira, Cohen and Piglia propound a common analysis of Argentine politics during the twentieth century and construct a synergetic philosophical critique of capitalism and political violence. The book thus constitutes a radical reappraisal of three of the most important authors in contemporary Argentine literature and contributes to the philosophical and historical understanding of the most recent Argentine military government and their systematic plan of state terrorism.
19-Aug-2018 Sonorous memory in Jonathan Perel’s El predio (2010) and Los murales (2011) [OPEN ACCESS] Articles
'Sonorous memory in Jonathan Perel’s El predio (2010) and Los murales (2011)'. Memory Studies (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698018790120 [Early View]
06-May-2016 Power in Transition in Marcelo Cohen's ‘La ilusión monarca’ Journal articles
Geraghty, N. (2016) 'Power in Transition in Marcelo Cohen's ‘La ilusión monarca’', Bulletin of Latin American Research, 35:4, 496-509
09-Jun-2015 <i>The Making of Jorge Luis Borges as an Argentine Cultural Icon</i> by Mariana Casale O’Ryan Review
Geraghty, N. (2015) 'The Making of Jorge Luis Borges as an Argentine Cultural Icon by Mariana Casale O’Ryan'. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 92:4, 481-482.
18-Jun-2014 Ema is by Nature a Political Animal: Politics and Capitalism in César Aira’s <i>Ema, la cautiva</i> Journal articles
Geraghty, N. (2014) 'Ema is by Nature a Political Animal: Politics and Capitalism in César Aira's Ema, la cautiva'. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 23:1, 1-18.
12-Feb-2005 Reconsidering Tristán Bauer’s <i>Iluminados por el fuego</i> (2005) 'Reconsidering Tristán Bauer’s Iluminados por el fuego (2005)', in The Latin American Diaries. ILAS Blog, (2015)
Publications available on SAS-space:
Date Details Aug-2018 Sonorous memory in Jonathan Perel’s El predio (2010) and Los murales (2011) PeerReviewed
Throughout his filmic production, Argentine director Jonathan Perel has demonstrated strict adherence to a unique aesthetic programme in which human agents appear to have only a minimal role. Each film contains only diegetic sounds and consists of fixed shots of architectural spaces and objects closely associated with the most recent Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983) and recent attempts to memorialise the atrocities they committed. Through the close analysis of Perel’s first two films – El predio (2010) and Los murales (2011) – this article focusses on Perel’s highly distinctive use of environmental sound and argues that they are, in fact, uniquely musical works. Drawing on the work of John Cage, Michel Chion, Deleuze and Guattari, and Doreen Massey, the article proposes that Perel manipulates sound in order to situate debates over the memorialisation of recent atrocities in a perpetual present and thus critique contemporary abuses of power in Argentina.