LAII Lecture Looks at Relationship between History, Politics, and Creative Arts

March 12, 2013

Frederick Nunn, professor emeritus of history and international studies, Portland State University, presents, "Threads of History or, the Chile of the Arpilleras: Studies in Imagination, Perspectives, and Intrigue," on Wednesday, March 20 from 4 - 5 p.m. at the Latin American & Iberian Institute, located at 801 Yale Blvd. NE on the UNM campus. This event is free and open to the public.

Nunn was the first to receive a Ph.D. from UNM in Ibero-American Studies, the forerunner to the LAII's current Latin American Studies doctoral program. He also earned his M.A. from UNM, for which he focused on Portuguese literature.

In this presentation, Nunn discusses how "Times of stress or crisis produce vivid and dramatic examples of the perpetual relationship between history and politics, and the creative arts. So it was in in late twentieth-century Chile when 'received' historical and political beliefs proved false, at best misleading. In 1973, Latin America's most professional armed forces and police deposed a democratically elected president, held power for 17 years, ruling harshly all the while.

"Chileans in opposition to the regime produced art literature, music, poetry and theater not only expressed their realization that assumptions about Chiles's past and its institutions, they demanded change. In no genre is this more clearly expressed in that of the arpilleras. 'Threads of History' explores 'the Chile of the Arpilleras,' the context in which appliqué became the medium of expression for the Chilean's appreciation of their past and present, and perhaps their future."

This event is co-sponsored by the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) and is held in conjunction with the NHCC Art Museum's current exhibition, "Stitching Resistance: The History of Arpilleras," which is on view through January, 2014.