Mellon Visiting Professor examines Argentina’s past repressions through lens of family and domestic life
The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies has the honor of hosting Isabella Cosse as its Mellon Visiting Professor at Duke this semester.
As a scholar of Latin America, Cosse received her undergraduate degree in 1990s Uruguay, at the Universidad de la República, during what she calls a difficult time in the country.
She recounts how Uruguay was “governed by brutal neoliberal governments” and experienced a regressive economic crisis. Cosse chose to leave Uruguay and continue her studies in Argentina, describing how she found Buenos Aires to be “the closest, most accessible rest of the world.”
Argentina became Cosse’s new home, though she emphasizes that she never lost ties with Uruguay.
“We can have more than one homeland, more than one identity,” she reminds us. Cosse holds not only Uruguay and Argentina close to her heart, but also Ecuador, a country in which she spent much of her adolescence.
Professor Cosse is teaching two courses for Spring 2025: “Politics, Sexuality & Family in Latin America during the Cold War,” and “History of Humor: Sociocultural and Political Approaches.”
When asked about her focus on gender, sexuality, and family studies, she explained her fascination with the “complexity of the family, which is neither a subject nor a thing, but rather a set of relations that cannot be conceived of as anything other than an institution deeply interwoven with the wider social, economic, and political domains.”
Her expanded conception of the family has allowed her to inquire into “substantial and very diverse phenomena” and theoretics of both present and past time periods, hence her extensive knowledge of Argentine history as well as class, cultural, and political dynamics in Latin America.
Cosse has been at Duke for just over three months now. She knew she would be entering a vibrant and highly prestigious intellectual hub, she said, and describes her experience thus far as one in which she has been able to experience firsthand “the extraordinary vitality, the dialogue among disciplines, and the stimulation of countless discussions and activities that take place at Duke.”
When asked about her courses, she describes her class discussions as very thought-provoking, with conversations ranging from South American history from the perspective of North America to major issues of the past and their inextricable connection to the present.
Cosse endearingly notes how welcome she has felt by the Duke/Durham community and how she has been able to forge everyday connections both in and outside the classroom.
“Duke and Durham have a very special light,” she said.
When asked about the importance of studying and learning about Latin America, Cosse first highlights how integral this region is in understanding greater global issues.
“We cannot achieve a deep understanding by looking solely at the dynamic of the centers of world power,” she emphasizes.
Cosse secondly believes studying Latin America allows one to lean into global tensions and issues from a counter-hegemonic point of view, thereby enhancing our understanding of them. She mentions the inversion of the map in which south becomes north as one such example of this counter-hegemony.
Lastly, as exemplified through her specialization in the study of non-traditional family dynamics and configuration in Latin America, Cosse argues that global phenomena “are observed more clearly and sharply in Latin America,” allowing us to question our often-Westernized assumptions and biases.
Professor Cosse’s most recent book, Mafalda: A Social and Political History of Latin America’s Global Comic, explores the social and political significance and staying power of the iconic comic strip Mafalda as a gateway to examining larger historical phenomena in Latin America and their global significance. Mafalda was a popular cartoon of the 1960s and 1970s created by Argentine cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, also known as Quino.
The English translation of the book was published in 2019 by Duke University Press, with funding by the Latin America in Translation Series, a UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies project.
Professor Cosse is currently working on a book on love and politics in Argentina during the Cold War Era. Cosse describes this project as an examination of “how political and romantic passion were intertwined during a vertiginous time in which young people took center stage and were awakening to sexual desire at the same time they were embracing political commitment.”
This meshing of political action with desire has allowed Cosse to document the resonant and impactful history of the revolutionary Left and its response to right-wing repression strategies through a new lens.
Read more about her profile here:
https://latinamericancaribbean.duke.edu/academics/visiting-professors/isabella-cosse
Natalia Harnisch is a sophomore in English and International Comparative Studies.