Laura Podalsky, distinguished professor of Spanish and Portuguese in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University, has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad (FRA) Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Education, International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office.
Podalsky will investigate the emergence of youth films and other media products aimed at young adults as a niche market in Argentina between 1960-1973. Standard accounts of this period in Latin America focus on the transformational role of young political militants and avant-garde artists who called for and tried to enact radical socio-political and aesthetic change in their societies.
In contrast, the “Youth, Film and Media Industries in Argentina, 1960-73” project analyzes notable changes that took place in commercial media targeting young people as citizen-consumers, from the production of domestic youth films and rock’n’roll to the proliferation of music-dance shows like El Club del Clan, Escala Musical, and Ritmo y juventud.
“The project employs aesthetic and discursive analysis to demonstrate how films and TV programs characterized youth as symbols of the nation’s modernity and cosmopolitan promise, while utilizing industrial analysis to describe the informal synergies that emerged between domestic film and television companies, and U.S. record labels to produce linked products (e.g. Fiebre de primavera as a film and album, drawing on young performers who regularly appeared on television) that might attract the purchasing potential of young consumers,” explained Podalsky. “The project is part of a larger comparative study with the Mexican case, illuminating the role of youth cultures in socio-economic modernization efforts in the 1960s.”
Faculty conduct research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies to improve their skill in languages and their knowledge of the culture of the people of these countries through the FRA grant. Nationwide across all disciplines only 25 Faculty Research Abroad Fellowships were awarded.
The Office of International Affairs administers the Fulbright-Hays program for Ohio State, and grant competitions are held annually. Faculty interested in applying for the award must contact Fulbright-Hays program director, Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.