Panel Name
Rethinking Memories of (Internal) Colonialism
Presentation Type
Panel Presentation
Location
Humanities 132
Start Date
4-3-2017 1:30 PM
End Date
4-3-2017 2:45 PM
Description
The 10-minute short film described below is narrated in Spanish but will also be available with English subtitles by the end of production.
Yo fumo puros como mi abuela
Inspirado por “Mi abuela fumaba puros” de Sabine Ulibarrí
or
I Smoke Cigars Like My Grandmother
Inspired by Sabine Ulibarrí’s “My Grandmother Smoked Cigars”
Written and produced by Katrina B. Abad and Inés García-Rojas
The moving short story “Mi abuela fumaba puros” (1992) by Mexican-American author Sabine Ulibarrí depicts the fortitude of a matriarchal grandmother from the eyes of her grandson at different stages of tragedy in their life. In this short film, I give that grandmother an identity—Alanza, the namesake of a feminine warrior—and creatively interpret her backstory no longer as an anonymous character subjected to third-person observation, but as a persevering woman with her own personhood and first-person narrative monologue. I further explore underlying themes from Ulibarrí’s original work such as machismo (or chauvinist hypermasculinity), psychological and emotional violence, and forms of feminine self-identity and resistance. Moreover, through this critical-creative interpretation of Ulibarrí, I unearth from his piece those subtle hints of magical realism—or the combination of naturalistic and surrealist elements into one oneiric narrative—and I highlight that genre’s role as a vehicle of social commentary, just as it has served for other Latin American and Chicano authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes and Julio Cortázar. By underscoring in this film the prevalence of oppression and violence, as well as the potency of resulting reprisals, I seek to spark a discussion of diverse viewpoints on what forms of resistance are effective and how we can innovatively (re)read the defense of human rights in both modern and canonical Latin American/Chicano literature.
Artistic Film Interpretation of Literary Piece: Yo fumo puros como mi abuela
Humanities 132
The 10-minute short film described below is narrated in Spanish but will also be available with English subtitles by the end of production.
Yo fumo puros como mi abuela
Inspirado por “Mi abuela fumaba puros” de Sabine Ulibarrí
or
I Smoke Cigars Like My Grandmother
Inspired by Sabine Ulibarrí’s “My Grandmother Smoked Cigars”
Written and produced by Katrina B. Abad and Inés García-Rojas
The moving short story “Mi abuela fumaba puros” (1992) by Mexican-American author Sabine Ulibarrí depicts the fortitude of a matriarchal grandmother from the eyes of her grandson at different stages of tragedy in their life. In this short film, I give that grandmother an identity—Alanza, the namesake of a feminine warrior—and creatively interpret her backstory no longer as an anonymous character subjected to third-person observation, but as a persevering woman with her own personhood and first-person narrative monologue. I further explore underlying themes from Ulibarrí’s original work such as machismo (or chauvinist hypermasculinity), psychological and emotional violence, and forms of feminine self-identity and resistance. Moreover, through this critical-creative interpretation of Ulibarrí, I unearth from his piece those subtle hints of magical realism—or the combination of naturalistic and surrealist elements into one oneiric narrative—and I highlight that genre’s role as a vehicle of social commentary, just as it has served for other Latin American and Chicano authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes and Julio Cortázar. By underscoring in this film the prevalence of oppression and violence, as well as the potency of resulting reprisals, I seek to spark a discussion of diverse viewpoints on what forms of resistance are effective and how we can innovatively (re)read the defense of human rights in both modern and canonical Latin American/Chicano literature.
Comments
Katrina is currently attending the University at Albany for her Master’s in Spanish Literature & Cultures, with a specialization in 20th-century Latin American poetry, decoloniality, and transcultural identity. Having previously tutored in writing and literature, she hopes to attain a career someday teaching Spanish literature at the collegiate level. In her free time, Katrina also enjoys writing her own fiction, poetry, and music.