BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20201101T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20200308T020000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:18690-9ee9fd5ff40b2e6f2020ca2e384e3ce9@events.la.psu.edu
DTSTAMP:20260425T195321Z
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260401T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260401T163000
SUMMARY:\"The Necromantic State: Spectral Remains in the Afterglow of Venezuela’
s Bolivarian Revolution\"
DESCRIPTION:\nIn 2013\, televisions across Venezuela announced the death
of Hugo Chávez. Chávez’s death\, however\, was not the end of Chávez’s
life. In this talk\, Irina Troconis examines how Chávez\, as a “specter\
,” has lingered in Venezuela’s public\, private\, and digital spaces. Mo
bilizing a methodological framework she calls "ghost h(a)unting" and foc
using on contemporary Venezuela\, Troconis examines a corpus that includ
es a computer app\, collectible phone cards\, and a hologram haunting th
e streets of Caracas\, as she contends that\, in moments of political t
ensions and crises of legitimacy\, the state brings the dead back to lif
e to negotiate the terms of its survival. By showing how this necromanti
c performance enables the state’s material and visual manifestations in
public and private spaces\, Troconis untangles a sociopolitical moment i
n which the ghostly does not challenge official narratives but rather ac
ts as a force that grounds state authority\, circumscribing in the proce
ss political imagination.\n\nIrina R. Troconis is assistant professor of
Latin American studies in the romance studies department at Cornell Uni
versity. Her research explores the relationship between memory\, politic
s\, and cultural production in contemporary Latin America\, with a speci
fic focus on Venezuela. She is the co-editor of Deborah Castillo: Radica
l Disobedience (HemiPress\, 2019) and the co-organizer of the conversati
on series “Re-thinking Venezuela.” Her work has appeared in Latin Americ
an Research Review\, Latin American Literary Review\, Comparative Litera
ture Studies\, Revista Iberoamericana\, The Journal of Media Art Study a
nd Theory\, among others. Her first book\, The Necromantic State: Spectr
al Remains in the Afterglow of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (Duke U
P\, 2025) explores through the lens of spectrality the memory narratives
and practices developed around the figure of Hugo Chávez in the decade
following his death. Her second book project focuses on the relationship
between identity\, materiality\, and the gaze in poetic and artistic wo
rks emerging from and about the Venezuelan diaspora.\n\nFor more details
: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/the-necromantic-state/
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:In 2013, televi
sions across Venezuela announced the death of Hugo Chávez. Chávez’s deat
h, however, was not the end of Chávez’s life. In this talk, Irina Trocon
is examines how Chávez, as a “specter,” has lingered in Venezuela’s publ
ic, private, and digital spaces. Mobilizing a methodological framework s
he calls "ghost h(a)unting" and focusing on contemporary Venezuela, Troc
onis examines a corpus that includes a computer app, collectible phone c
ards, and a hologram haunting the streets of Caracas, as she contends th
at, in moments of political tensions and crises of legitimacy, the stat
e brings the dead back to life to negotiate the terms of its survival. B
y showing how this necromantic performance enables the state’s material
and visual manifestations in public and private spaces, Troconis untangl
es a sociopolitical moment in which the ghostly does not challenge offic
ial narratives but rather acts as a force that grounds state authority,
circumscribing in the process political imagination.
Irina
R. Troconis is assistant professor of Latin American studies i
n the romance studies department at Cornell University. Her research exp
lores the relationship between memory, politics, and cultural production
in contemporary Latin America, with a specific focus on Venezuela. She
is the co-editor of Deborah Castillo: Radical Disobedience (Hem
iPress, 2019) and the co-organizer of the conversation series “Re-thinki
ng Venezuela.” Her work has appeared in Latin American Research Revi
ew, Latin American Literary Review, Comparative Litera
ture Studies, Revista Iberoamericana, The Journal of M
edia Art Study and Theory, among others. Her first book, The Necrom
antic State: Spectral Remains in the Afterglow of Venezuela’s Bolivarian
Revolution (Duke UP, 2025) explores through the lens of spectrality the
memory narratives and practices developed around the figure of Hugo Chá
vez in the decade following his death. Her second book project focuses o
n the relationship between identity, materiality, and the gaze in poetic
and artistic works emerging from and about the Venezuelan diaspora.
For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/the-necromantic-state/
LOCATION:158 Willard Building
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR