About

Santiago Oyarzabal holds a PhD in the Film and Television Studies (Warwick). He held an early career fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study and currently works as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Hispanic Studies.

His PhD work focused on representations of social crisis in Argentine fictional cinema 1998–2005 and his research interests include issues surrounding the relationship between film, history and the representation of society in cinema and television.

Before coming to the UK, he completed a BA (Licenciatura) in Social Communication and Journalism and took an MA in Planification and Management of Communication Processes (Plangesco) both at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina.

Since 1999 he also worked partly outside and in academia. As a journalist, he wrote for the national and regional media (newspapers and magazines) and was the main producer of radio programmes for one of the leading radios in La Plata. In academia, he was appointed by the UNLP as an Assistant Professor and researcher in the areas of radio, TV and cinema.

Research interests

Title: Representations of Social Crisis in Recent Argentine Cinema

His thesis engages with representations of social crisis in Argentine fictional cinema during 1998–2005, a period when Argentina experienced a deep economic crisis that brought about significant changes in politics, culture, society and the arts. The emphasis is upon the ways in which cinema interpreted both present and long-established dialogues with national and social discourse, while re-assessing notions of national identity, culture and social class.

The study contributes to a growing body of scholarship on Argentine film which has no precedent in history. In particular, works published in English over the last five years have offered fresh reflections upon a field that has remained dominated by narrative and aesthetic, rather than analytical, approaches.

By combining close textual analysis of films to the study of their cultural context my research argues that cinema addressed predominantly middle-class Argentine audiences with critical questions concerning the transformations they were experiencing over those years of crisis. As works of fiction, the films also offered ordinary people the possibility to identify with their own lives and values, stimulating critical reflection and emotional engagement, as well as enjoyment and laughter.

The modes through which these films addressed Argentine audiences are themselves as rich and complex as their narrative representations of crisis. Amongst the most compelling achievements of recent Argentine cinema are the diversity of its modes of address, its strong themes, interesting styles and captivating narrative strategies. These films offered domestic audiences both reflective and divergent views on social reality that, without any doubt, enriched the cultural arena in which Argentineans could reflect on their past, their daily life, their values and their relationship with social minorities. In this sense cinema helped Argentine people to learn to live in democracy.

Supervisors: Prof. John King (Comparative American Studies) and Prof. Stephen Gundle (Film and Television Studies).

Teaching and supervision

University of Warwick

• HP104 Images and Representations of the Hispanic World
• Film History (FI106)
• National Cinemas (FI 204)
• Latin America: Themes and Problems (AM101)
• Spanish Language through Films (LL295)
• Spanish Advanced - Level 7 (LL303)
• Spanish Intermediate 1 - CAS (AM221)

Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP)

• 2003 to 2005. Taller de Producción Radiofónica I. Teaching assistant (Jefe de Trabajos Prácticos). In charge of designing and co-ordinating seminar work. Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP)
• 1999 to 2003. Taller de Producción Radiofónica I. Teaching assistant (Auxiliar Docente) for the module. Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP)

Academic innovation and support

Wolfson Research Exchange, Postgraduate and Staff Advisor
The University of Warwick, University Library

The Research Exchange is a space within the Library exclusive for research staff, students and research-focused events. I work with a team in the designing and development of resources and activities to support researchers in terms of develpment and collaboration, as well as implementing the community profiles. Warwick July 2010 – November 2012

MA in Radio Broadcasting, Co-author and Co-ordinator
Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social

Co-author of the project that created the University's MA in Radio Broadcasting (Especialización en Comunicación Radiofónica). Also in charge of the co-ordination of academic and administrative activities. Decree 73/2002, La Plata, July 2002- June 2005.

Go to the programme of the Especialización en Comunicación Radiofónica

Selected publications

• Nation, Culture and Class in Recent Argentine Cinema: Crisis and Representation (London: Tamesis, forthcoming 2016).
• World Film Locations: Buenos Aires (Intellect Books, 2015). Co-edited with Michael Pigott (Warwick).
• Entries on Boca do lixo, Chega de saudade, 12 horas até o amanhecer and O passado for World Film Locations: São Paulo, ed. Louis Bayman and Natália Pinazza (Bristol: Intellect Books, forthcoming 2014).

View more publications

Qualifications

• BA (Licenciatura); MA Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina
• PhD (Warwick)