Dr. Kathleen Newman is a Latin Americanist whose research focuses on theoretical questions regarding the relation between fictional narrative and politics. Her teaching includes transnational film theory as well as courses on Latin American, Spanish and Chicano Cinemas. Her current research project examines the relation between silent film, early feminist movements, and democratization in Argentina in the period 1910-1935, with close attention being paid to the constitution of a transnational cultural imaginary through both national cinema and imported fiction feature films.