Location
Girvetz 2320
Host/s
Organized by CLAIR, co-sponsored by Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Comparative Literature Program, and Graduate Center for Library Research
Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela and leader of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” died in April 2013. His life, however, did not end. Drawing from a diverse corpus that includes tattoos, toys, memes, and graffiti, Prof. Troconis examines how Chávez, as a “specter,” has lingered in Venezuela’s spaces. In this necromantic performance, the state brings the dead back to life to negotiate the terms of its survival.
Irina R. Troconis is Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies at Cornell University. She is the author of The Necromantic State: Spectral Remains in the Afterglow of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution (Duke UP, 2025).