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Central American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art
Central American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art
상세정보
- 자료유형
- 학위논문 서양
- 최종처리일시
- 20260202105132
- ISBN
- 9798293866335
- DDC
- 300
- 저자명
- Guzman, Roy G.
- 서명/저자
- Central American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art
- 발행사항
- [Sl] : University of Minnesota, 2025
- 발행사항
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2025
- 형태사항
- 487 p
- 주기사항
- Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-03, Section: A.
- 주기사항
- Advisor: Hennefeld, Maggie;Spears-Rico, Gabriela.
- 학위논문주기
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 2025.
- 초록/해제
- 요약"Central American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art" is a transdisciplinary project that focuses on aesthetic objects where the figure of the insect is used to stereotype or frame certain populations in Central American. Simultaneously, it reflects on how these derogatory associations have been repurposed into symbols of self-empowerment. This dissertation begins by analyzing portrayals of Central American migrant caravans in U.S. mass media and political discourse. By using insect metaphors and slipshod zoological references, Central American migrants and refugees were racialized, pathologized, and criminalized. These groups were reconfigured as harmful locusts, revealing another dark undercurrent: If Central Americans evoke repulsion, it is precisely because their condition of undesirability reflects how insect life, and Central America as a whole, has been conceptualized. This conceptualization is traced at first in American filmmaker Byron Haskin's The Naked Jungle (1954), where the main antagonist is a fictional swarm of Brazilian army ants dubbed marabuntas. Haskin's film is often credited as an origin source for the word mara, which refers to Central American gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras with roots in the U.S. These methods of animalization are further explored in Marlen Vinayo's short documentary Imperdonable (Unforgivable 2020), which follows a group of gay ex-mara members. Because of their sexual orientation and former allegiances to rival gangs, these incarcerated individuals must share a cell in a crowded prison of El Salvador. Transitioning from film to visual art, this dissertation examines Ricardo "Alecus" Clement's 2022 exhibit, Sone un insecto con personas sobre el... (I Dreamt an Insect with People on It...), where migratory grasshoppers, stag beetles, robber flies, and praying mantises have outgrown their human migrant counterparts, providing transportation, protection, and nutrition. Alecus's series is reminiscent of biological mutualisms through which interrelating species derive benefits to varying degrees. Through this unique framework I call transmigrant mutualism, this dissertation asks what else is possible for humans and nonhuman animals in the afterward-those moments after the end of a film or art exhibit, where the audience can engage more ethically with Central American multispecies life beyond the frame.
- 일반주제명
- Latin American studies
- 일반주제명
- Cultural anthropology
- 일반주제명
- Film studies
- 일반주제명
- Art history
- 키워드
- Visual art
- 키워드
- Central America
- 키워드
- Cultural studies
- 키워드
- Film
- 키워드
- Media
- 기타저자
- University of Minnesota Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society
- 기본자료저록
- Dissertations Abstracts International. 87-03A.
- 전자적 위치 및 접속
- 로그인 후 원문을 볼 수 있습니다.
MARC
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■00520260202105132
■006m o d
■007cr#unu||||||||
■020 ▼a9798293866335
■035 ▼a(MiAaPQ)AAI32239274
■040 ▼aMiAaPQ▼cMiAaPQ
■0820 ▼a300
■1001 ▼aGuzman, Roy G.
■24510▼aCentral American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art
■260 ▼a[Sl]▼bUniversity of Minnesota▼c2025
■260 1▼aAnn Arbor▼bProQuest Dissertations & Theses▼c2025
■300 ▼a487 p
■500 ▼aSource: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-03, Section: A.
■500 ▼aAdvisor: Hennefeld, Maggie;Spears-Rico, Gabriela.
■5021 ▼aThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 2025.
■520 ▼a"Central American Insects: Representation, Entomology, and Animalized Subjects in Film and Visual Art" is a transdisciplinary project that focuses on aesthetic objects where the figure of the insect is used to stereotype or frame certain populations in Central American. Simultaneously, it reflects on how these derogatory associations have been repurposed into symbols of self-empowerment. This dissertation begins by analyzing portrayals of Central American migrant caravans in U.S. mass media and political discourse. By using insect metaphors and slipshod zoological references, Central American migrants and refugees were racialized, pathologized, and criminalized. These groups were reconfigured as harmful locusts, revealing another dark undercurrent: If Central Americans evoke repulsion, it is precisely because their condition of undesirability reflects how insect life, and Central America as a whole, has been conceptualized. This conceptualization is traced at first in American filmmaker Byron Haskin's The Naked Jungle (1954), where the main antagonist is a fictional swarm of Brazilian army ants dubbed marabuntas. Haskin's film is often credited as an origin source for the word mara, which refers to Central American gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras with roots in the U.S. These methods of animalization are further explored in Marlen Vinayo's short documentary Imperdonable (Unforgivable 2020), which follows a group of gay ex-mara members. Because of their sexual orientation and former allegiances to rival gangs, these incarcerated individuals must share a cell in a crowded prison of El Salvador. Transitioning from film to visual art, this dissertation examines Ricardo "Alecus" Clement's 2022 exhibit, Sone un insecto con personas sobre el... (I Dreamt an Insect with People on It...), where migratory grasshoppers, stag beetles, robber flies, and praying mantises have outgrown their human migrant counterparts, providing transportation, protection, and nutrition. Alecus's series is reminiscent of biological mutualisms through which interrelating species derive benefits to varying degrees. Through this unique framework I call transmigrant mutualism, this dissertation asks what else is possible for humans and nonhuman animals in the afterward-those moments after the end of a film or art exhibit, where the audience can engage more ethically with Central American multispecies life beyond the frame.
■590 ▼aSchool code: 0130.
■650 4▼aLatin American studies
■650 4▼aCultural anthropology
■650 4▼aFilm studies
■650 4▼aArt history
■653 ▼aVisual art
■653 ▼aCentral America
■653 ▼aCultural studies
■653 ▼aFilm
■653 ▼aMedia
■690 ▼a0550
■690 ▼a0326
■690 ▼a0900
■690 ▼a0377
■71020▼aUniversity of Minnesota▼bComparative Studies in Discourse and Society.
■7730 ▼tDissertations Abstracts International▼g87-03A.
■790 ▼a0130
■791 ▼aPh.D.
■792 ▼a2025
■793 ▼aEnglish
■85640▼uhttp://www.riss.kr/pdu/ddodLink.do?id=T17359524▼nKERIS▼z이 자료의 원문은 한국교육학술정보원에서 제공합니다.
