About this Event
11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.
Northwestern University, University Hall Room 201
Free / Entrada libre
In Spanish and English / En español e inglés
Politics and Poetics of the Archive: Conversation with Marina Azahua
Join Northwestern University's Department of Spanish and Portuguese for a conversation between Mexico City-based writer, editor, translator, and anthropologist Marina Azahua and Professor Alejandra Uslenghi, whose research spans Latin American visual culture, photography history, and critical theory.
Together they will explore the politics and poetics of the archive, the photographic image, and the relationship between writing, representation, and memory. Drawing on themes from Uslenghi's courses on Latin American visual culture and the archive — including modern photography, the urban experience, and questions of preservation, intervention, and care — the conversation will bring Azahua's literary and anthropological practice into direct dialogue with these subjects. Azahua will offer a brief presentation on her poetics as a writer, followed by an open conversation with students and the public facilitated by Uslenghi.
Azahua is the author of Retrato involuntario: El acto fotográfico como forma de violencia (Comisura, 2025) and Archivo agonía (Sexto Piso, 2024), and co-founder of Ediciones Antílope.
This event will be in English and Spanish and is presented in partnership with the Lit & Luz Festival and Northwestern University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Acompañe al Departamento de Español y Portugués de Northwestern University en una conversación entre la escritora, editora, traductora y antropóloga radicada en la Ciudad de México, Marina Azahua, y la profesora Alejandra Uslenghi, cuya investigación abarca la cultura visual latinoamericana, la historia de la fotografía y la teoría crítica.
Juntas explorarán las políticas y poéticas del archivo, la imagen fotográfica y la relación entre escritura, representación y memoria. Partiendo de temas abordados en los cursos de Uslenghi sobre cultura visual latinoamericana y el archivo —incluyendo la fotografía moderna, la experiencia urbana y preguntas sobre los conceptos de preservación, intervención y cuidado—, la conversación pondrá la práctica literaria y antropológica de Azahua en diálogo directo con estos tópicos. Azahua ofrecerá una breve presentación sobre su poética como escritora, seguida de una conversación abierta con el público asistente, moderada por Uslenghi.
Azahua es autora de Retrato involuntario: El acto fotográfico como forma de violencia (Comisura, 2025) y Archivo agonía (Sexto Piso, 2024), además de cofundadora de Ediciones Antílope.
Este evento se desarrollará en inglés y español, y se presenta en colaboración con el Festival Lit & Luz y el Departamento de Español y Portugués de la Universidad Northwestern.
-------
The 13th annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art—as featured in, WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons, Chicago Review of Books, Block Club Chicago, and more—takes place November 8 to November 14, 2026. Lit & Luz is a one-of-a-kind, cross-cultural and multilingual festival, bringing together renowned writers, visual artists, performers, and musicians from Mexico and Chicago for a week-long series of public programming at venues throughout Chicago.
Organized this year under the theme of “Edge/Borde” artists and writers will gather to present their work with performances, artist talks, writing workshops, poetry readings and panel discussions to consider the complexities of official borders, as well as the ways in which soft and hard edges are constructed within cities and regions—and within artistic practices themselves—through language, culture, identity, and policy
To learn more, visit litluz.org
Event venue & nearby stays
University Hall, 1897 Sheridan Road, Evanston, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.