Bernadette Calafell Virtual Talk

This virtual presentation examines the character of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) from the Star Wars universe, specifically Rogue One (2016) and Andor (2022) to explore the possibility of critical hope within what José Esteban Muñoz terms the “brown commons.” Both Rogue One and Andor present a possibility for Latina/o/x people to imagine themselves in the future and envision their role in changing that future through the affective nature of “the brown commons” and its politics of critical and revolutionary hope. Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor offers us as viewers a rehearsal for the revolution. He is a complex character who further offers an Other narrative in the genre of sci-fi which often centers narratives of colonial violence. Furthermore, it is a narrative that resonates in the Trump era.

Bernadette Marie Calafell (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) is a Chicana living in the Pacific Northwest. She is Professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the Past-Editor of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. She has authored Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance and Monstrosity, Performance, and Race in Contemporary Culture. Dr. Calafell has also co-edited six books. In 2023 she was named a Distinguished Scholar by the National Communication Association as an exemplar of the field. She was the first Latina/o/x/e scholar named as such. Additionally, Dr. Calafell is the co-editor with Dr. Thomas Nakayama of the Critical Intercultural Communication series with Peter Lang and the Horror and Monstrosity series through the University Press of Mississippi with Drs. Marina Levina and Kendall Phillips. Her research is focused on queer of color theory, Latinx Studies, women of color feminisms, monstrosity and horror, performance studies, and critical rhetoric. Her most recent book project, Transcultural Specters, focuses on popular music, race, culture, and transnationalism.

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