Ericka Beckman, "Agrarian Questions: The Latin American Novel on the Road to Capitalism"

Event details Date: Thursday, October 15, 2026 Time: 4:45 PM Location: Klarman Hall - Romance Studies Lounge (K164) - 232 East Ave, Ithaca, NY 14853 Type: Lecture / Workshop Department: Romance Studies Contact: Carolyn Fornoff | cfornoff@cornell.edu About this event In this talk, Dr. Ericka Beckman (Professor of Spanish & Portuguese, UPenn) will discuss her recent book Agrarian Questions: The Latin American Novel on the Road to Capitalism, published with Verso Press. Between 1910 and 1970, Latin America experienced a rapid and radical transformation. Rural societies became urban, and peasants found themselves forced into precarious wage labor. The Latin American novel became the key witness to this upheaval, revealing capitalism’s violent remaking of country and city alike. In Agrarian Questions, Beckman shows how these novels illuminate an epochal reshaping of land and labor—gifting readers with insights that continue to resonate in a world of increasing urban precarity. Generously sponsored by the CNY Humanities Corridor Mexican Studies working group. Official event details: https://events.cornell.edu/event/ericka-beckman-agrarian-questions-the-latin-american-novel-on-the-road-to-capitalism