We are proud to announce that Dr. María Soledad Fernández Utrera, Professor of Spanish, and Jennifer Nagtegaal, PhD Student of Hispanic Studies, are recipients of Best Book by a Canadian Hispanist awards (2023–2024) by the Canadian Association of Hispanists.
This prestigious national distinction recognizes exceptional original research that makes a significant contribution to Hispanic Studies.
Established Scholar Category
The award for Best Book by an Established Scholar was presented to Professor María Soledad Fernández Utrera for her book Las fiestas del intelecto. Banquetes e ideología en la vanguardia española. Los ágapes de Ramón Gómez de la Serna (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Press, 2024). Her work offers a nuanced exploration of intellectual banquets as a cultural and ideological practice in Spanish avant-garde literature.
Las fiestas del intelecto es el primer estudio monográfico hasta la fecha sobre el banquete de intelectuales en la modernidad y la vanguardia españolas. En Las fiestas del intelecto, María Soledad Fernández Utrera explora la dimensión solidaria y la naturaleza social y política del banquete, prestando especial atención al ágape de intelectuales liberales en el primer tercio del siglo XX y a los anti-banquetes jocoserios de Gómez de la Serna. Analiza la documentación visual que ha quedado de estos eventos gastronómicos (fotografías y dibujos) y sitúa estas cenas en el contexto físico, sociohistórico y discursivo de la España de entreguerras. Su estudio se nutre de las aportaciones de la antropología al conocimiento de la fiesta y los festines y de los estudios culturales culinarios hispanos y modernistas.
Emerging Scholar Category
The award for Best Book by an Emerging Scholar was given to Jennifer Nagtegaal for her book Politically Animated: Non-fiction Animation from the Hispanic World (University of Toronto Press, 2023). The book breaks new ground by examining non-fiction animation as a form of political expression in the Hispanic world.
Politically Animated studies the convergence of animation and actuality within films, television series, and digital shorts from across the Spanish-speaking world. It interrogates the many ways in which animation as a stylistic tool and storytelling device participates in political projects underpinning an array of non-fiction works.
The case studies in the book cover a diverse geographical scope, including Spain, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. They critically analyse different works such as feature-length animated documentary films, a work of animated journalism, a short animated essay, and micro-short episodes from a televised animated documentary series. Jennifer Nagtegaal employs the term "politically animated" in reference to the ideological implications of choosing specific techniques and styles of animation within certain socio-historical and cultural contexts.
Nagtegaal illuminates the creative union of animated documentary and the comics medium currently being exploited by Spanish and Latin American cartoonists and filmmakers alike. By paying particular attention to cultural production beyond the big screen, Politically Animated continues to stretch the bounds of animated documentary scholarship.
Shedding light on the political implications that arise from narrative decision-making, this book examines animated non-fiction from the Spanish-speaking world.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to both scholars for this well-deserved recognition of their work and contributions to the field.
