Date/Time: Wednesday 11th May, 4-6pm

Venue: Bedson Building (Barbara Strang Teaching Centre) room 1.46

We are delighted to announce that Benjamin T. Smith, Professor of Latin American History at the University of Warwick, will be giving the Vanessa Knights Memorial Lecture this year, which will be followed by a wine reception. He will be speaking about his book The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade, looking at why it is worth studying the drug trade, how we can do it, and what it can tell us about society, politics, and the future of Latin America.  

"A roiling, rambunctious trek through all that created the modern Mexican drug trade―populated by Cadillacs and barbarians, godfathers and presidents, border dope queens and chatuma kings, and, lining the way, a tawdry cavalcade of Mexican federal officials. Forget ‘El Chapo’. This book makes clear that the pioneers who forged the trafficking industry were employed in the Mexican government. Really great stuff, really great reading."
― Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland

 

The Vanessa Knights Memorial Lecture is an annual event organised by CLACS. It is held in memory of Vanessa Knights (1969-2007), lecturer in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at Newcastle University from 1995 until her early death. Vanessa was well known and respected in her field, Latin American and Iberian Peninsula cultures, especially focusing on music, literature and popular culture. She published on the bolero, nationalism, diaspora and science fiction, as well as feminism and women's movements in contemporary Spain and Latin America. She was also vice-president of Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies in 2003-2004 and was a member of numerous scholarly organisations.