BaqueroAlvaro

UNIVERSO SICARIO: ESPACIOS TRAUMÁTICOS Y ASESINOS A
SUELDO. UNA APROXIMACIÓN COMPARATIVA

A Dissertation
submitted to the Faculty
of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
of Georgetown University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy
in Spanish Literature and Cultural Studies

By
Álvaro Baquero-Pecino, M.A.

Washington, DC
June, 21st 2010

Copyrightby Álvaro Baquero-Pecino
All rights reserved

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UNIVERSO SICARIO: ESPACIOS TRAUMÁTICOS Y ASESINOS A SUELDO.
UNA APROXIMACIÓN COMPARATIVA

Álvaro Baquero-Pecino, M.A.
Dissertation advisor: Alejandro Yarza, PhD.
ABSTRACT
This Dissertation explores the imagery, spaces, and narrative strategies related to
the portraying of “sicarios” or contract killers through a selection of films produced inSpain, Colombia, and Brazil between 1990 and 2010. Titles of films under discussion
include Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto (Agustín Díaz Yanes, 1995),
O homem do ano (José Henrique Fonseca, 2003), and Rosario Tijeras (Emilio Maillé,
2005). These films provide a ground in which analyzing the intersections between
national cinematographies as well as the interplay between cinema,literature, and other
kinds of cultural expressions.
Using the theoretical framework of studies of trauma, this dissertation reassesses
the concept and application of the term ‘trauma’ in order to provide a deeper
understanding of the proliferation of contract killers and the cultural manifestations in
which they have been central in the past decades. Contract killers represent both
individual andsocial traumas in a concrete and a metaphorical way. These narratives are
a way to deal with a reality in which contract killers, and furthermore the dead, and are an
integral part of every day life. By telling, or retelling, a particular trauma, society
attempts to resolve whatever may now lie in its wake.
These representations depict a complex mapping of narratives of violence,
globalization, andpostmodernism that have redefined such notions as identity, social

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class, global/local dynamics, and transnational exchanges. At the same time, these films
provide a wide range of implications of these representations, such as the connection
within traumatic collective memories and the social reality, as well as the connections
between mafia groups, drug trafficking, and contract killers inthe current world. The
study of the films analyzed in this Dissertation within the theoretical framework of
trauma is, therefore, an exceptional vehicle for gaining a better understanding of the
phenomenon of contract killers in its multiple dimensions.

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A mi familia, siempre.
A Tulia Camacho-Chernick, in memoriam.

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AGRADECIMIENTOS
Esta tesis supone el cierre de una etapa y el comienzo deuna nueva. Ha sido un
periodo en el que han ocurido muchas cosas, tal vez las que tenian que pasar y otras que,
quizás, no tanto. Pero de todo se aprende. Es el momento de hacer balance y de ser
agradecido.
A mi familia le debo todo. A mis padres, Andrés y Ana María, por su infinita
dedicación y por todos los sacrificios. A mis hermanos, Alejandro y Clara, por su cariño
y respeto. A mis abuelos, alos que siempre tendré presente, en especial a mi abuela
Teresa. A mi cuñado Samuel y al resto de familiares (primos, tíos) por su apoyo. A todos
ellos va dedicada esta tesis y a todos les agradezco. La tesis tiene, asimismo, una
dedicatoria especial para una compañera como Tulia Camacho-Chernick cuya lucha fue
un gran ejemplo. Tulia, esta tesis es también para ti.
Quiero agradecer al Director dela tesis, Alejandro Yarza, por su apoyo y su
entusiasmo hacia este proyecto y por sus acertados comentarios críticos. A Vivaldo
Santos por sus lecturas de los capítulos, y su paciencia y su buen hacer. A Luis DunoGottberg, que demuestra allá donde va una grandísima profesionalidad y una enorme
amabilidad. Los aciertos que pueda tener este trabajo les deben mucho a ellos que
conformaron el...