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Antonio Prado

Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures (Spanish)

Antonio Prado

Meet Professor Prado

Years at Knox: 2000 to present

"I am interested in the intersections of popular culture, art, politics, and historical memory. My main area of study has centered in anarchist studies both in Spain and Argentina: feminist writings in the Spanish anarchist press during the first third of the XXth century, anarcho-syndicalist film production during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the video-activism that resulted after the Argentine economic crisis of December of 2001.

Most recently I have been working on the concentrationary literature of the Spanish Republicans in French and Nazi camps during their exile after the Spanish Civil War. I frame this study within the recent movement for the recovery of historical memory in Spain. This movement critiques the Spanish Democratic Transition (1976-1982) as compliant with a politics of forgetting the Spanish Republican past (1931-1939)."

Education

Ph.D., 2006, University of Illinois.
M.A., 1999, University of Illinois.
B.A., 1996, University of Illinois.

Teaching Interests

Spanish language, Hispanic literatures, Latin American film, The Spanish Civil War.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Publications

"Cine social revolucionario: de España 1936-39 a Argentina 1968-1976," Hispanófila Issue 177 (2016): 89-100.

"Spanish Republicans in the Holocaust: Historical Rights and Testimonial Literature". Oxford, Inter-Disciplinary Press (Forthcoming 2016)

"El documentalismo anarquista de contrainformación: de España 1936-37 a Argentina post -2001" in El documental politico en Argentina, Chile y Urugay: de los años cincuenta a la década del dos mil. Eds. Antonio Traverso and Tomás Crowder-Taraborrelli. Santiago de Chile, LOM Ediciones (2015).

"El discurso mesiánico en la narrativa amorosa de Federico Urales: Hacia una perspectiva de género" in Cuando los anarquistas citaban la Biblia: entre mesianismo y propaganda, Ed. Joël Delhom and Daniel Attala. Madrid, Libros de la Catarata (2014): 198-212.

"Popular and Experimental Anarchist Cinema: Anarcho-Syndicalist Film during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)" in De-Centring Cultural Studies. Past, Present and Future of Popular Culture. Ed. José Igor Prieto-Arranz et al. New Castle Cambridge Scholars. (2013): 137-149.

"Perspectivas de género en el reciente video-activismo argentino: nuevas estrategias y propuestas" in Éste que ves, engaño colorido... Literaturas, culturas y sujetos alternos en América Latina. Ed. Fernanda Bustamante et al. Barcelona, Icaria (2012): 447-460.

"Anarchism and Counter-information in Documentaries: From Civil War Spain to Post-2001 Argentina." Political Documentary Film and Video in the Southern Cone (1950s-2000s). Spec. issue of Latin American Perspectives 40.1 (2012): 50-59.

Escritoras anarco-feministas en La Revista Blanca (1898-1936): Matrimonio, familia, y Estado. Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo: Madrid (2011.)

Presentations

"La función del mito en los escritos fronterizos de la Retirada: España-Francia, 1939," XX Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. June 21-23, 2017.

"Universal Human Rights or Partisan Political Memory?: The Testimonies of Spanish Republicans in Nazi Concentration camps". 1st Global Conference: Testimony, Memory, Trauma, Truth, Engagement, July 2014, University of Oxford, U.K, July 2014.

June 2014. "De los campos de concentración franceses a los campos nazis: literatura testimonial de los republicanos españoles (1939-1945)". Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Brook University, Canada, May 2014.

"Del cruce de 'la raya' fronteriza a los campos de concentración franceses: escritos de la retirada republicana, 1939." Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, Albuquerque, April 2013.

"Escritoras anarco-feministas en La Revista Blanca." Book presentation, Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores (C.N.T.), Bilbao, Spain, November 2011.

"Del cruce de 'la raya' fronteriza a los campos de concentración franceses: escritos de la retirada republicana, 1939." Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, Albuquerque, April 2013.

"Escritoras anarco-feministas en La Revista Blanca." Book presentation, Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores (C.N.T.), Bilbao, Spain, November 2011.

"Perspectivas de género en el reciente video-activismo argentino: nuevas estrategias y propuestas", Leer Latinoamérica hoy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, May 2011.

"Free Maternity and Mother Nature: Progress and Natura in the Spanish Anarchist Debate (1900-1936)", Mothering and Motherhood in the 21st Century: Research and Activism, Lisbon, Portugal, February 2011.

"La vanguardia cinematografica del anarquismo español (1936-1939): medios y mediaciones en lucha." Paper, IV Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Española de los Estudios Populares de Cultura Popular, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, October, 2010.

"The C.N.T.'s Collectivization of the Film Industry (Spain 1936-37): Mediation, Representation and Social Revolution." Paper presented at the MLG Summer Institute on Culture and Society, Portland State University, Portland, June 2009.

"Anarquismo, documentalismo y revolución social: España 1936-37, y Argentina post 2001." Paper presented at the LASA (Latin American Studies Association), Rio de Janeiro, June, 2009.

"Grass Roots Documentary in the Post 2001 Argentine Crisis: Women Facing State Power and (Capitalist) Globalization." Marxist Literary Group Annual Institute on Culture and Society, "Anti-Globalization/Counter Globalization", University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2008.

"Towards a Gendered Perspective of the Third Cinema Premises: Working Class Women in the Recent Videoactivism in Argentina." Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Philadelphia, 2008.

"Reading the Anarchist Romance: Melodrama in the factory, Revolution in the Household (Spain, 1923-1936)." Knox College, 2004.

"La otra regeneración: Mujer y revolución social en la prensa anarquista española (1868-1914)." Tulane University, 2001.

Campus & Community Involvement

  • Resident Director, Barcelona Program.
  • Visiting professor at the University of Palermo, taught course Argentine Political Cinema, Buenos Aires.
  • Member, Modern Language Association.
  • Member, Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

what students say

  • Not only is Professor Prado a native speaker who wants to aid students with the finer points of Spanish grammar, but his re-contextualized and insightful interpretations of literary works and historical texts are one-of-a-kind. He effortlessly wins students over with his warmth and laid-back attitude. He does not attempt to put on affected professorly airs, but instead earns respect by giving it. Professor Prado is devoted to the variety of themes discussed in class, and he genuinely wants students to grow in their understanding until they reach a higher level of enthusiasm and appreciation for these issues. Professor Prado's classes are addictive: once you take one, you'll want to take them all.

    Laurie Nowak

    Spanish and Environmental Journalism Major