Students Launch 20th Century Latin American Modernism Podcast Series

July 27, 2020
Students launch podcast exploring 20th Century Latin American Modernism
João Filgueiras Lima's Capela CEB project Salvador

Students in Professor Fernando Lara’s “20th Century Latin American Modernism” seminar have created a series of podcasts based on class discussions held over the course of the Spring 2020 semester. The podcasts are available to stream on Anchor.fm, Spotify, Google and Apple podcasts, and provide an in-depth analysis of the artistic, cultural, and urbanistic practices of modernism as it emerged south of the Rio Grande.  

Starting from decolonial theories as elaborated by Arturo Escobar and Walter Mignolo, the course uses modern architecture as a departure point for investigating the political, social, and economic factors – as well as the artistic expression - of both modernity and coloniality in the twentieth century.

Organized around discussions and student presentations, the course required students to analyze artistic and cultural manifestations of a variety of modernist manifestations in Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The first half of the semester explored ideas behind the concepts of modernity, modernization and modernism, with special attention paid to the ways ideas and periodization vary in different national contexts. Over the second half of the semester, students used Lara and Luis E. Carranza’s book Modern Architecture in Latin America: Art, Technology, and Utopia as a case study for exploring how these concepts have been expressed through specific artistic and urbanist forms.

We encourage you to begin your investigation with the episode titled “Peripheral Modernism” for an introduction to the concepts of the course and explore from there.

Featured podcasts include:

  • “Peripheral Modernisms,” edited by Arlene Ellwood
  • “Colombia and Venezuela,” edited by Italia Aguilera
  • “Brazil 1,” edited by Alexander Ko
  • “Brazil 2,” edited by Hugo Siaudzionis
  • “Mexico,” edited by Georgina Cantu
  • “Critical Regionalism,” edited by Maria Navarro
  • “Chile,” edited by Reyes Ordaz Fernandez
  • “Cuba,” edited by Stella Coble
  • “Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia,” edited by Katharine Stowe

Lara’s “20th Century Latin American Architecture” seminar is one of four required courses for students completing UTSOA’s Certificate in Latin American Architecture. Recognized as an international hub for the study of American spaces, the UT School of Architecture has more faculty focused on Latin America than another other school in the United States.

For more recent scholarship about The Americas from UTSOA, explore the 2019 issue of PLATFORM titled “Preservation in the Americas: Finding Our Shared History”