Professor of Spanish
Degrees
- Ph.D. Florida State University, Latin American Literature
- M.A. University of South Florida, Spanish Foreign Language Education
- B.A. University of South Florida, Spanish and Criminology
Courses taught
- Elementary Spanish
- Intermediate Spanish
- Advanced Spanish Conversation
- Written Expression
- Cuban Literature
- Class, Race and Gender in Latin American Literature and Film
- Exploring the Cuban Revolution Through Film and Literature
- Language Immersion in Salamanca (Spain)
- Language Immersion in Córdoba (Argentina)
- Language Immersion in Arequipa (Perú)
Research
My research interests concentrate on the autobiographical genre in Cuban and Cuban-American culture, literature and film. My initial research agenda dealt with autobiographical elements in Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s True History of the Conquest of New Spain, and how BDC uses the autobiography to link his life, his identity, to the transformation of the Aztec civilization into New Spain. I recently have focused on how Cubans abroad, particularly Cuban-Americans, have opted for the autobiography to fashion an extraterritorial identity. In doing so, Cubans abroad have shown a remarkable parallel with the kind of animal behavior identified through Swarm Theory. Furthermore, the work of the Cuban writer, Luis Orlando Pardo Lazo, offers another perspective into the role of autobiography and the reworking of identity inside Cuba by means of Nicolas Bourriaud’s radicant aesthetics. My long range research goal is to identify how Cubans have dealt with the trauma of the 1959 Revolution, and how their artistic expressions allow them to cope with their precarious lives, and to prepare for an eventual smoother transition toward democracy in the island.
Selected publications
Articles
- “The Modern ‘I’ in Bernal Díaz del Castillo,” Modern Language Notes, 2010.
- “Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo’s Boring Home: A Brave New Dystopia.”Manguito Review Blogspot.com. Blog. Feb. 17, 2010.
- “Prólogos e identidad en Bernal Díaz del Castillo,” Cuadernos del Lazarillo 36, 2009.
- “Cuban-Americans and the Autobiography,” The Latin Americanist 53, 2009.
Selected interviews
- Entrevista con Narciso Hidalgo: Atemporalidad e insilio en Cuba: El arte de la espera.” Manguito Review. Blogspot.com. Blog. March 10, 2010.
- “Entrevista con Eduardo Lamora: El verdadero exilio es el regreso.”Manguito Review. Blogspot.com. Blog. Feb. 28, 2010.
- “Entrevista a Edmundo Desnoes: El escritor y sus recuerdos.” Manguito Review. Blogspot.com. Blog. January 6, 2010.
Review
“Luchando, Resolviendo, Inventando: As the Curtain Falls Over the Revolutionary Stage: Amelia Rosenberg Weinreb, Cuba in the Shadow of Change: Daily Life in the Twilight of the Revolution (U. Press of Florida, 2009).” Manguito Review. Blogspot. Blog. April 1, 2010.