Lifetime Achievement Award
The Latin American Studies Association, the world’s largest organization of those who study, teach and write about Latin America and inter-American affairs, is pleased to announce the winner of the Kalman Silvert Award LASA2025: Graciela Montaldo, Columbia University.
Latin Americanism, as a discipline, encompasses a plurality of fields and its content and scope are constantly being redefined. LASA has contributed to establishing the weight of the discipline and has accompanied disciplinary changes over the decades. I am very honored by this award and I would like to think that it recognizes the diverse traditions in which we Latin Americanists have been trained and the diverse fields in which we develop.
I am a Professor at the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, at Columbia University. I received my PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in literary studies. I have taught at universities in Argentina, Venezuela (Simón Bolívar), and the United States (Maryland Duke, Chicago, Rutgers). Since the beginning of my career, I have participated in conferences in Latin American countries, Europe, and the United States, sharing the community of Latin Americanists.
My work is focused on Latin American cultures from Nineteenth Century to the present. Since my first monograph, De pronto el campo (1993), I have published more than ten books, including Museum of Consumption (2021), Rubén Darío. Viajes de un cosmopolita extremo (2013), Zonas Ciegas. Populismos y experimentos culturales en Argentina (2010). Recognizing the importance of collaborative work, I have co-edited four volumes, including the Routledge Companion to Nineteenth-Century Latin America with Agnes Lugo-Ortiz (2024), and The Argentina Reader: History, Culture and Politics with Gabriela Nouzeilles (2002).
My research interests are at the crossroads of different fields. Trained in literature and cultural practices (intellectual history, sociology of culture), I moved progressively through media, gender, and visual studies. My last monograph, Museum of Consumption, intersects those multiple perspectives exploring the politics of cultural consumption in modern Argentina. I have studied cultural practices such as tango, circus, and fashion.
Continuing with my interest in the continent's cultural practices, institutions, and counter-manifestations, my current research focuses on the production and circulation of artisanal books and alternative editions, the new actors in the literary scene, the materiality of culture, and new ways of conceiving writing in the age of AI.
About LASA
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 13,000 members, over 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe. LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
If you wish to interview a LASA Executive Council member, you can contact the LASA communications office at (412) 648-7929 or send an email to lasa@lasaweb.org.