The MMLL Library will exceptionally be closing at 4pm on Wednesday 18th February to prepare for a book launch event.
At 5pm we will be hosting the latest Cambridge Hispanic & Lusophone Research Seminar, welcoming back our former library colleague and Cambridge PhD graduate Dr Victoria Adams (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Leeds) for the launch of her book Digital Media, Memory and Heritage in Contemporary Rio de Janeiro, published in 2025 by Legenda.
Abstract: Since the 1970s, Brazil's authorities have regarded the country's past as a source of cultural and economic value. In the late 2000s, a boom in Brazil's consumer economy served to make smartphones and social media ubiquitous across the country. This study considers how these two key phenomena intersect in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro through examination of how a range of cultural-historical projects — including an Instagram page, virtual museum, and memory tourism app — use digital media to explore Rio's past. By exploring these two developments, this work sheds new light on how engagement with digital media currently plays a central role in remapping Rio's space. At the same time, through its attention to how historical, social, and economic factors condition the affordances and usage of digital technologies in Rio, it offers a multifaceted portrait of how the initiatives examined both key into and contest longstanding and often exclusionary approaches to the management of Rio's space.
Those interested are welcome to attend. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the early closure.
