Patria Roman-Velazquez

Information:

 

Patria Roman Velazquez

 

 

 

 

Dr.Patria-Roman Velazquez

Specialism:
 Communication and the City, Place, Identity, Latin Americans in London, Ethnography, Semiotics
Teaching:
 Undergraduate: Media, Culture & Society / Introduction to Media Studies

Postgraduate: Communication, Culture & Development / Globalisation & the City / Approaches to Social Research / Issues in Media Studies
Location:
 Social Sciences Building, Room D601
Tel:
 020-7040-8847
Fax:
 020-7040-8580
Email:
 P.Roman-Velazquez@city.ac.uk
Office hours:
 Mon, Weds, Thurs 11am-12pm
Administration:
 MA Suite Director for MA Communication Programmes: MA Media & Communication / MA International Communication & Development / MA Political Communication / MA Transnational Media & Globalisation

Patria’s background and circumstances account for the eclectic research profile and interests to date: from the salsa clubs of London and the streets of Old San Juan (Puerto Rico) to the numerous libraries and archives in England. The geographical points of reference have shifted in relation to the geographical context in which she has been located during her academic career. As disparate as these locations might be her research holds together around questions of place, identity and power relations.

 

These themes can be found in her approach to salsa clubs and Latin Americans in London, with an emphasis on diasporas, music, place and identity. It also appears in her research about the regulation of the nocturnal city and consumption practices in San Juan, this time with an emphasis on urban cultural policy and its impact upon the character of the nocturnal street. It appears again when exploring the night as a site of consumption in late 19th Century London, in this instance focusing on the relationship between time, place, consumption and technology. This study concentrates on the use of artificial lighting in streets and display windows and its subsequent impact upon consumption patterns at night. Her research methodologies have also shifted from undertaking ethnographic research (an active participant of night life cultures) to doing archival research about the night. She welcomes research in any of these areas.


Patria’s interest on urban cultural practices derives from her background in Communication and Media Studies. Through her research on cities, music, diasporas and places she brings a distinctive dimension to communication studies in Britain. Accounting for this is her involvement in organisations, institutions and networks internationally. She has coordinated the activities for the Communication & the City group at the 2001 Association of Latin American Communication Researchers (ALAIC), in Chile. Whilst at City University she has set up and coordinates the Communication and the City Research Group. She has been member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Blackwell, USA since February 1998, and member of the International Advisory Board for City. Analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy and action, Routledge, UK since August 2005. She is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for the Studies of the Americas, School of Advanced Studies, University of London.


Patria was born in Puerto Rico, and lived in the United States for a number of years as a young child. She was awarded a Ph.D. from Leicester University in 1996 and completed her BA and MA at the University of Puerto Rico, where she taught for three years before joining City University in 1999. She has taught in the areas of communication and cultural studies, urban cultures, media analysis and ethnographic research. She has presented papers and seminars at a number of conferences and institutions in Britain, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and Japan, and has published articles in Spanish and English. She has published articles in a number of journals and edited collections and is the author of The Making of Latin London: Salsa Music, Place and Identity (Ashgate 1999).

 

 

Recent Publications

Books

The Making of Latin London: Salsa Music, Place and Identity  (1999) Ashgate.

Refereed journal articles

‘Hay que traer espacio a la vida. Entrevista con Doreen Massey’ (Incorporating Space into Life: An Interview with Prof. Doreen Massey) (2008). Vol.XXVII No. 53 Signo y Pensamiento, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia, pp327-343 (with Alejandra Garcia-Vargas). (ISBN-10(13): 0120-4823).
 
Ciudades ordinarias: Entrevista con J. Robinson (Ordinary Cities. An Interview with Dr. Jennifer Robinso). (2006). No. 12-13.  Población y sociedad, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina (with Alejandra Garcia-Vargas).
 

Latin American migration to London and transformations of urban spaces (published in Spanish) (2005), Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos (Latin American Migration Studies), CEMLA: Argentina.

 

Belonging and detachment: musical experience and the limits of identity (2002), Poetics. Journal of empirical research on culture, the media and the arts, Vol.29 issues2-3, Elsvier Publishers, Holland and US. (with Dr. Keith Negus, Goldsmiths College)

 

The night and the control of urban life: reflections on the Code of Public Order for Old San Juan (published in Spanish), Revista de Ciencias Sociales (Journal of Social Sciences), No. 10 (January 2001) Nueva Epoca, Puerto Rico, pp34-56.

 

The embodiment of salsa: Musicians and the performance of a Latin style and identity (January, 1999). Vol. 18 No. 1, Popular Music, England: Cambridge University Press, 115-132.

 

The development of a salsa scene and the construction of Latin identities in London (El desarrollo de un circuito salsero y la construcción de identidades latinas en Londres) Revista de Ciencias Sociales (Journal of Social Sciences), No. 4 (1998) Nueva Epoca, Puerto Rico, 53-79.

Chapters in books

Latin Americans in London and the Dynamics of Diasporic Identities (2009), in James Procter, Michelle Keown & David Murphey (Eds) Comparing Postcolonial Diasporas, Palgrave, Macmillan (ISBN: 978-0-230-54708-7 // ISBN-10: 0-230-54708-7).
 

Night, Control and Consumption in Old San Juan (2008) in A. Cronin & K. Hetherington (Editors) Consuming the Entrepreneurial City: Image, Memory, Spectacle, USA: Routledge (with a preface by Sharon Zukin).

 

The embodiment of salsa: Musicians and the performance of a Latin style and identity (2005) in J. Post (Editor) Ethnomusicology Reader, USA: Routledge.

 

On the relationship between identity and territory (published in Spanish) (2005) in S. Alvarez Curbelo (Ed), Comunicación, Democracia y Ciudadanía, U of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican Humanities Foundation, Puerto Rico, pp185-193.

 

Locating salsa (2002) in Popular Music Studies, K. Negus and D. Hesmondhalgh (eds), Arnold, England, pp210-222.

 

The making of a salsa music scene in London (2002), in Lise Waxer (Ed), Situating Salsa: Global markets and local meanings in Latin popular music, USA: Routledge, 259-287.

 

Globalisation and Cultural Identities (2000), in Mass Media & Society, 3rd edition, James Curran and Michael Gurevitch (Eds), Arnold, UK, pp329-345 (with Prof. Keith Negus, Goldsmiths College).

 

Salsa musicians and the performance of a Latin style and identity (1998), in Popular Music: Intercultural interpretations, Toru Mitsui (Ed.), Kanasawa University Press, Japan, pp383-390.

 

Participating in creating the event: The power-geometry of salsa music clubs in London  (1998) in Music on Show: Issues of Performance, Tarja Hautamäqui & Helmi Järviluoma (Eds.), Tampere University, Finland, pp281-284.

 

Discotheques in Puerto Rico: Salsa vs. Rock  (1995) in Popular Music: Style and Identity  Straw, W., S. Johnson, R. Sullivan and P. Friedlander (Eds), Canada, Montreal: Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, pp285-291.

 

Other Publications

Book Review of Regulating the night. Race, Culture and Exclusion in the Making of the Night-time Economy by Deborah Talbot, Aldershot: Ashgate. Published in Ethnic and Racial Studies 31(7): 1354-55, London: Routledge (2008).
 
Book Review of Dropping anchor, setting sail: Geographies of race in black Liverpool (2005) by Jacqueline Nassy Brown, Princeton UP. Published in American Journal of Sociology 111(6): 1984-1985, Chicago: U of Chicago Press (2006).

Book Review of Reproducing empire: Race, sex, science, and U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico (2002) by Laura Briggs, U of California Press. Published in Ethnic and Racial Studies 27(4): 660-685, London: Routledge (2004).

 

Book Review of Understanding Media Culture (1999) by Jostein Gripsurd, (London: Arnold, 2002). Published in Journalism 4(4): 507-08, London: Sage (2003).

 

Book Review of Television de proximidad en Europa. Experiencias de la descentralizacion en la era digital (1999) by M. de Moragas Spa, C. Garitaonadia, B. López (Eds), Aldea Global, Barcelona. Published in European Journal of Communication.

 

Other Academic Related Activities

As part of the research initiatives in the department I initiated the Communication and the City Research Group. Past activities include: Rhythms of the City – the symposium to launch the Research Group and How should we write about London. The centre has also attracted two PhD students: Yanet Toirac-Garcia (Cuba) and Alejandra Garcia-Vargas (Argentina).