07/15/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/15/2025 12:29
By Brian Laubscher
July 15, 2025
Freddy Fuentes, visiting assistant professor of English at Washington and Lee University, presented a paper titled "Latin American Magical Realism as the Original Eco Writing: Advocating for Our Planet Through Magic" at the 72nd annual Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies (SECOLAS) Conference held in Mexico City, Mexico on April 25.
Fuentes' talk contended that magical realism emerged as a literary response to environmental and colonial destruction in Latin America, positioning the genre as inherently ecological literature that advocates for the planet through a narrative approach. He asserted that magical realism was born from a Latin American desire to make sense of the virtually magical levels of destruction of peoples and lands executed by parasitic presences there beginning with Spanish conquistadors, on to their descendants, the Latin American political and corporate elite, and, to no small degree, the impact of U.S. political and corporate exploitation. Fuentes argued that U.S.-owned banana plantations displaced thousands of small and medium family farms and poisoned Latin American lands with chemicals banned in the U.S. and the violence that accompanied this economic imperialism.
Magical realism's power, to a great degree, lies in its ability to dissolve the Western conceptual barrier between humans and nature, presenting a worldview where "the plants and the animals and the rain and streams are not the other of us, it is us, and, like magic, it heals us." Using several examples, Fuentes demonstrated how magical realism employs beauty and magic in partnership with the natural world to process "inexplicable loss" and envision pathways toward healing.
Fuentes almost missed the chance to take part in the conference. "On the last day of the proposal submission period, I mentioned to my wife (Jane Stewart, director of sustainability at W&L) that I still had nothing to submit despite wanting desperately to go to Mexico City," said Fuentes. "She suggested the title noting how nature plays such a significant role in the magical realist works I teach and write about. Once the submission was accepted, I prepared by collecting my bibliography of Latin American magical realist authors and eco writers, taking handwritten notes that I finished using only paper on pencil on my way to the conference."
To create further connection to his topic, Fuentes added elements of nature to the meeting space where he was presenting. "On presentation day, I stopped at a bodega to buy birdseed, then 'borrowed' about 10 potted plants from the conference center's courtyards and arranged them around my presentation room, lining the windowsills with birdseed," Fuentes remarked. "I was determined not to be one of those mind-numbingly boring academics whose presentations make you wonder if death would be relief. We were rewarded because birds and a squirrel visited the windowsills. I joked about my gimmicky efforts to bring nature into my nature-related talk, passed out books for audience members to read highlighted excerpts, and delivered what turned out to be an insightful argument supported by beautiful magical realist nature passages."
The SECOLAS conference annually brings together Latin American Studies scholars from varied colleges and universities to present papers on numerous Latin American topics, including politics, history, gender studies, the environment, immigration and literature. After the conference, presenters are eligible to submit their paper for publication consideration in The Latin Americanist, an international, peer-reviewed journal published by the association.
Fuentes has served as a member of the W&L faculty since 2017. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from Columbia University and an MFA in English from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Established in 1953, SECOLAS is a non-political and nonprofit association of individuals interested in Latin America. Its objectives are the promotion of interest in Latin America, scholarly research about Latin America in all fields, and the increase of friendly contacts among the peoples of the Americas.
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