The opening lecture of the 2020-21 GRITIM-UPF Seminar Series will be led by Carles Feixa (University of Pompeu Fabra, Catalonia, Spain).

Carles Feixa (Lleida, 1962) is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). He has a PhD from the University of Barcelona and an Honoris Causa from the University of Manizales (Colombia). Former professor at the University of Lleida, he has been visiting scholar in Rome, Mexico City, Paris, Berkeley, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Newcastle and Lima. He has specialized in the study of youth cultures, conducting fieldwork research in Catalonia and Mexico. He is author or coauthor of 50 books, including De jovenes, bandas y tribus (Barcelona, 1998, 5th ed. 2012), Jovens na America Latina (São Paulo, 2004), Global Youth? (London & New York, Routledge, 2006), De la Generación@ a la #Generación (Barcelona, Ned, 2014) and Youth, Space and Time (Boston & Leiden, Brill, 2016). To continue reading please click here

Date: Thursday October 8th, 2020

Time: 15:00 - 18:00

Place: UPF Ciutadella Campus, Building Mercè Rodoreda, Room 24.S18

Title: Transnationalism from Below: West and East Side Stories

Abstract: This lecture is an attempt to "transplant" (worth the redundancy) three concepts linked to transnational studies: "transnationalism from below" (Appadurai, 2001); "minor transnationalism" (Lionnet & Shu-mei, 2005); and "subaltern transnationalism" (Feixa, 2020). For this we rely on the data and reflections resulting from fifteen years investigating transnational youth gangs, more specifically a street youth organization present on both sides of the Atlantic: the Latin Kings & Queens. While the title -Transnationalism from Below- refers to the flow of people and groups belonging to the subaltern sectors of society, the subtitle -West & East Side Stories- refers to the exchange of imagery and cultural identities between both sides of the Ocean. It is an allusion to the original prototype of gang cinematography (West Side Story, 1961), inspired in turn by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, exported from New York -and from Hollywood- to the whole world since the 1960s, a story that now lives a certain revival. It is also a metaphor for transnational migration processes that have exported the gang culture - and the police and criminal culture to combat them - from the United States to Latin America, and from Latin America to Europe since the 1990s. To continue reading please click here

For the upcoming GRITIM-UPF seminars, please visit this link.