Mara Favoretto

Mara Favoretto is an Associate Professor in Latin American Studies at the University of Melbourne, affiliated with the School of Languages and Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts. She earned her PhD in Latin American Studies from the University of Melbourne, with her doctoral work encompassing themes of allegory and irony under censorship during Argentina's military dictatorship (1976-1983) and explorations of Latin American music migrations, such as salsa, cumbia, and merengue in Melbourne. Her academic career at the University of Melbourne spans research, teaching, and authorship, including contributions to courses like Spanish Entry Point 1. Favoretto's research centers on popular music studies, emphasizing song lyrics as counter-discourse during cultural crises, censorship and resistance in Argentine rock, and the role of popular music in migration contexts, particularly Latin American music scenes in Australia. She participates in projects such as Popular Music and Resistance in Latin America.

Favoretto has produced an extensive body of work, including books Coded Lyrics: The Poetics of Argentine Rock under Censorship and Beyond (Liverpool University Press, 2024), Spinetta: mito y mitología (Gourmet Musical Ediciones, 2017), Charly en el país de las alegorías: un viaje por las letras de Charly García (Gourmet Musical Ediciones, 2014, now in its sixth edition), and Alegoría e ironía bajo censura en la Argentina del Proceso (1976-1983) (Edwin Mellen Press, New York, 2010). Notable publications also feature 'La dictadura argentina y el rock: enemigos íntimos' (Resonancias, 2014), 'Tango and Cumbia villera: Origins, Encounters, and Tensions' (Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 2016), 'Toward a Hybrid Latin American-Australian Music Scene' (in Australian-Latin American Relations, 2016), 'Charly García's allegories as counter-discourse' (Confluencia, 2012), 'Politicians on Campaign: Cristina Fernández’s Visual and Discursive Strategies of Persuasion in the Parliamentary Elections of 2017' (Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 2020), 'Actuar para (sobre) vivir: Rock nacional y cumbia villera en Argentina' (Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 2011), and 'The Construction of Latin American Musical Identity in Melbourne' (in Made in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, 2018). Her scholarship, cited over 296 times on Google Scholar and 77 times on ResearchGate across 40 publications, addresses intersections of politics, power, and popular music in Argentina, influencing studies on rock nacional during dictatorship eras and hybrid music identities.

Professional Email: mara.f@unimelb.edu.au