Charlie Geyer

I specialize in the comparative study of Latin American and Latinx literatures and cultures, with a focus on Border Studies and the politics and aesthetics of bordering practices in a hemispheric context. 

My current book project, titled Disturbing Beauty: Border Crossing in Latin American and Latinx Imaginaries, is an interdisciplinary study (drawing from critical border studies, geography, and anthropology) of the aesthetics of border construction and border crossing in the late 20th and early 21st centuries at various sites in Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil), the Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico), and the United States (Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican diasporas). While examining the role of aesthetics in enacting the violent practices of “securing” and “patrolling” the geographic borders of nation, as well as the social borders of race, class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship, I also identify an aesthetic practice in Latin American and Latinx literature, performance, and visual arts called “disturbing beauty,” which illuminates new political arrangements for living with borders. Through analysis of trilingual works (Spanish, Portuguese, English) by writers, artists, and performers from across the Americas, my project stages a hemispheric intervention in the fields of Border Studies and Latin American and Latinx literary and cultural studies, showing what the interdisciplinary study of border may contribute to cultural analysis, and demonstrating the value that aesthetic inquiry can offer to our understanding of bordering practices. 

My work has been published in Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, CENTRO: Journal for the Center of Puerto Rican Studies, Chasqui, The Comparatist, and the Afro-Hispanic Review. Prior to arriving at Davidson, I held appointments at the University of Arizona and Ball State University, where I taught courses in both Spanish and Portuguese language, as well as various courses related to my research expertise, including “Border Crossing in the Latinx Americas,” “Queer Crossings: Latin and Latinx Americas,” “Beauty and Marginality in Contemporary Latin America,” and “Latina/o/x Stories.”