Convocation: Arlene Davila

Arlene Davila is a cultural anthropologist interested in urban and ethnic studies, the political economy of culture and media and consumption studies. Her work focuses on Puerto Ricans in the eastern U.S., and Latinos nationwide. She is currently working on a collection of essays on the production and circulation of contemporary representations of Latinidad examining current debates about the so called "mainstreaming" and "republicanization" of U/S. Latinos. She is especially interested the politics of culture and representation as they play out in a variety of institutional settings as varied as museums and contemporary culture industries. As Professor of Anthropology and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, Davila teaches courses on comparative ethnic studies, race and nation in the Americas, Latino/a popular culture, global ethnography and consumption studies. The title of her presentation was "Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race."