The lecture will explore how different theoretical approaches to the narrative, performative and cultural aspects of trials, particularly show trials, can illuminate the sexual and racial politics that underpinned the public’s fascination with the Lorena Bobbitt case. Firstly, addressing the location of Latinos in the trans-American social imaginary, profoundly marked by the
“coloniality of power.” Followed by inquiring how narrative and performative analyses can fruitfully recast the study of show trials to better appreciate their cultural and political implications.
And finally analyzing the stories put forward by both the defense and the prosecution and how they reenacted highly problematic racial and sexual tropes characteristic of the coloniality of power.