Description:

Throughout the Winter Quarter, the Center for Latinx Digital Media invites you to a series of weekly seminars held over Zoom on Thursdays from 12-1 PM CT. You can now register (click here) to the seminar on Thursday February 4, 2021 at 12-1 PM CT, where Professor Mary Beltrán (University of Texas at Austin) will give a presentation entitled "Latina/o television histories and cultural citizenship: 1980s-‘90s network failures." 

Presentation abstract: Drawn from a larger study of Latina/o narratives and authorship in U.S. English-language television, this presentation shines a light on the industrial and social climate that influenced ‘80s and ‘90s series featuring Latino or Latina main characters. The Norman Lear-led sitcom a.k.a. Pablo (1984) and The WB series First Time Out (1995) serve as case studies. These and other network “failures” illuminate the limitations of Latina/o cultural citizenship in relation to television, then and today.

Mary Beltrán is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film and was the founding director of the Latino Media Arts & Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Latina/o Stars in U.S. Eyes and the forthcoming Latino TV: Navigations of U.S. Storytelling. Beltrán’s research and teaching is focused on U.S. television and film history, with an emphasis on Latina and Latino representation and authorship, and on racial diversity and the U.S. media industries.

This event is co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, the Center for Global Culture and Communication, the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and the Latina and Latino Studies Program.