Maynooth University Spanish and Latin American Studies

Following the traumatic events of 9/11, the increased hostility towards migrants in the United States was coupled with an intense celebration of the heroes who attempted to cope with the terrorist attacks. This celebration, in turn, led to a resurgence of the superhero genre in visual culture.  Catherine Leen explores how Mexican photographer Dulce Pinzón’s 2012 series ‘The Real Story of the Superheroes’ celebrates Mexican and Latina/o immigrant workers in the United States by casting them as superheroes. Her chapter on the work of Dulce Pinzón is available in the EUP book, Legacies of the Past: Memory and Trauma in Mexican Visual and Screen Cultures, which has just been released in paperback.