Contemporary Collectives: Approaches to Latin American and Spanish Literature and Visual Culture

Abstract: Critical theory, literature, and the arts have rediscovered the collective, with varied and nuanced investigations into the difficult labor of coalescing. This special issue investigates how twenty-first century literature and the visual arts shape and theorize the collective from the vantage point of Latin America and Spain, both at the forefront of the recent global interest in collectivity. Beyond familiar proclamations of the impossibility of the collective, contributors investigate the rich terrain of its emergent and persistent forms, analyzing recent cultural production from Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, and the Venezuelan diaspora. This introduction posits central concepts for mapping collectivity today: periodization; overlapping terms like the commons; representation (swarm; multitude); space (frame; assembly); the first-person plural and the general intellect; an expanded understanding of affect; methods for approaching an elusive present. Engaging the nine contributions, it demonstrates how the aesthetic affords unique reflections on collectivity and its discontents.