Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm Venue: Arts Two Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
Attendance is free of charge, but you must book in advance.
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Despite a long history of relations between Latin America and London through trade, diplomacy and exile, only recently have these been extensively established, primarily through flows of people. This lecture examines the nature of these geographies through exploring the processes of (in)visibilisation and the power relations that underpin them. Through interrogating the ambivalent nature of (in)visibility, the lecture highlights the importance of theorising from the global South, in foregrounding the experiences of invisible migrants, especially women, and in recognising how invisibility can reinforce exclusion, but also its utility in negotiating exit from Latin America as well as entry to and settlement in Latin London. It argues for the recognition of Latin Americans in London and the UK who have been largely invisible in public consciousness and policy, yet who contribute enormously to the functioning of the city and the nation more widely.
Cathy McIlwaine is Professor of Geography in the School of Geography where she has worked since 1995, and been a professor since 2012. With a background in development geography, mainly in Latin America, she has actively sought to work across geographical and disciplinary boundaries through her research on transnational migration in London. Her research has consistently focused on issues of gender, poverty, civil society, as well as everyday and gender-based violence. She has always worked at the interface of policy and academic work and has research partnerships with the Latin American Women’s Rights Service and CASA Latin American Theatre Festival and is a trustee of Children Change Colombia and Latin Elephant.