Knitting Gardens of Hope in Contemporary Latin America

A tissue, in Spanish tejido, is defined as a set of cells that form a structural part of a living thing. A tejido is also a material fabric that involves careful and artisanal work. Blankets are woven objects that warm us up in the cold in the same way that stories are woven experiences that immerse us in others. Woven stories not only bind multiple stitches but also link together perceptions, feelings, and memories. Often, the fabric of shared experiences is crucial in creating a sense of belonging and unity. In this talk, I will focus on various tejido practices (material, experimental, visual, and lyrical) that propose an aesthetic that nurtures spaces of collective solidarity. These practices aim not only to repair but also to restore and connect an ancestral past with a polluted present by weaving a fabric that assembles the human with the non-human, the organic with the inorganic. Rather than subjection, the practice of tejido plots against hegemonic toxic narratives to facilitate a communal space of caring while ensuring a mesh of solidarity and continuity across multiple species.

Gisela Heffes is a Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at Johns Hopkins University and a writer, ecocritic, and public intellectual with a particular focus on literature, media, and the environment. Her most recent publications are the co-edited volumes The Latin American Ecocultural Reader (2020), Pushing Past the Human in Latin American Cinema (2021), Un gabinete del futuro (2022) and Turbar la quietud (2023). She is the author of Visualizing Loss in Latin America: Biopolitics, Waste, and the Urban Environment (2023; recipient of an Honorable Mention by the LASA Environment Awards Committee for 2023 publications by LASA Environment Section members). Her current research project is tentatively titled Material Dissonances: Toxic Matters and Matters of Toxicity in Latin America. Heffes was the 2022-24 co-president of ASLE (The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment), and she is now the Director of LAO (the Latin American Observatory), one of the eight observatories spearheaded by the Humanities for the Environment Initiative at the University of Arizona.

When: Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Location: TBD

Time: 5 PM

Register here: https://jh.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5jT1JnbNWo5XuTQ

*Reception to follow