This interdisciplinary project touches on literature in Spanish, urban studies and cultural politics in Latin America to study public reading programs and alternative publishing in Latin American cities. I am studying the role of reading and visual images in urban public interactions in cities in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Examples of these projects under examination include public short story contests, free books given out on buses and subways, the expansion of public libraries, and the cartonera movement that publishes books bound in recycled cardboard. These programs defy the conception of reading as solitary and private by literally taking literature to the streets and creating communities of readers made up of commuters, travelers, and even homeless people. My research into these programs goes beyond studying the books they produce and circulate to focus on new uses of public space, participation across generational divides, and neighborhood identity. I hope to complete a book on this topic during the 2015-2016 academic year.
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