Biography
I was born in the mostly rural Northwest region of Spain, Galicia, and grew up in a small tightknit community. All the members of my family lived, and still do, within a 20-mile radius. Due to the difficult economic times, however, my parents emigrated to the United Kingdom when I was eight years old. I joined them a year after and had to quickly learn a new language and adapt to the urban and cosmopolitan city of London (talk about culture shock!). This uprooting shaped the rest of my life. I became bilingual and bicultural at a very early age. I chose to major in English at the University of Santiago de Compostela a few years after we returned to Spain; I came to the United States as a teaching assistant after graduation; and I decided to enroll in a PhD program in Hispanic Literature at the University of Connecticut shortly after. The rest, as they say, is history.
Even though I am a first generation student, teaching is somehow in my blood. My favorite game throughout my entire childhood was playing school. My passion for teaching and for research has informed all of my adult life. I deeply believe that knowledge creates awareness, and that awareness in turn creates understanding, empathy, and progress, not only within our communities but in the world at large. The study of languages and literatures gives students the opportunity to see reality through the eyes of others and provides them with essential tools for global and intercultural understanding. The most rewarding aspect of my job as an educator has been to experience and facilitate the rich intellectual and human interaction that takes place in the classroom. At 17勛圖厙, nothing is more important to me than creating spaces where students can learn about Spanish culture and literature as they explore and engage in some of the fundamental issues of our time such as gender, race, class, war, conflict, and the environment.
Courses
- Espa簽ol para Hispanohablantes
- Intro to Textual Analysis
- Readings in Spanish Literature
- Spanish Film and Literature
- Female Voices in Modern and Contemporary Spain
Research
- 19th-21st Century Spanish Literature
- Womens Writing, Narrative
- Film Studies
- Cultural Studies
- Gender Studies, Feminism, Ecofeminism
Books
Global Issues in Contemporary Hispanic Womens Writing: Shaping Gender, the Environment, and Politics. Routledge, 2013 (Co-editor).
Palabra de mujer: hacia la reivindicaci籀n y contextualizaci籀n del discurso feminista espa簽ol. Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos, 2007 (Author). (A Womans Word: Towards the Vindication and Contextualization of Spanish Feminist Discourse)
Selected Recent Articles
Arriesg獺ndolo todo en cada palabra. Entrevista a Yolanda Casta簽o, Hispania, Volume 107 , Number 1 (March 2024): 13-24.
La escritura como instrumento de resistencia cultural y reivindicaci籀n de la diferencia: Entrevista a Emma Pedreira. Hispanic Journal 41.2 (Fall 2020): 31-47.
Entrevistas a Mar穩a Reim籀ndez, Rosa Montero y Julia Otxoa: el arte de la escritura y el activismo (Interviews with MR, RM, and JO: The Art of Writing and Activism). Romance Studies 34:1 (2016: 43-63).
El cine social y comprometido de Ic穩ar Bolla穩n: Hacia una perspectiva global, transcultural y ecologista (Ic穩ar Bolla穩ns Socially Engaged Cinema: Towards a Global, Transcultural, and Ecological Perspective). Espa簽a contempor獺nea XXIV(2)-XXV(1,2), (2015: 161-173).
Escribir desde una geograf穩a de desarraigo y extra簽amiento: la poes穩a y el microrrelato de Julia Oxoa (Writing From a Space of Unfamiliarity and Non-Belonging: Julia Otxoas Poetry and Microstories). Anales de la Literatura Espa簽ola Contempor獺nea [ALEC] 40.1 (2015: 61-73).
Hacia una perspectiva global y transnacional: el compromiso y la urgencia en el cine espa簽ol contempor獺neo (Towards a Global and Transnational Perspective: Engagement and Urgency in Contemporary Spanish Theater). Published in the volume Cuesti籀n social: Literatura, cine y prensa (Santiago de Compostela: Editorial Andavira, 233-241, 2014).
El espacio femenino en Valle-Incl獺n.&紳莉莽梯; In Valle-Incl獺n: ensayos cr穩ticos sobre su obra y trascendencia. Coru簽a: H矇rcules de Ediciones, 2009.
Entre el dinamismo ideol籀gico y el estatismo filos籀fico: la aproximaci籀n al g矇nero y a la mujer en la obra de Valle-Incl獺n, ALEC 33.3 (2008), 33-56.
Catolicismo y feminismo: el enfrentamiento de dos ideolog穩as en 梆紳莽棗梭硃釵勳籀紳 de Emilia Pardo Baz獺n y Camino sin retorno de Lidia Falc籀n.&紳莉莽梯;La literatura, la iglesia y el reino de este mundo. A Coru簽a: Monogr獺ficos de Artabria, 2006. 51-59.
De 獺ngel del hogar a mujer moderna: las tensiones filos籀ficas y textuales en el sujeto femenino de Carmen de Burgos.&紳莉莽梯; Letras Femeninas 31 (2005): 49-74.
Entre la crisis generacional y el 矇xtasis sexual: el dilema femenino en Atlas de geograf穩a humana de Almudena Grandes.&紳莉莽梯; Romance Studies 20 (2002): 129-144.