For more information contact:
Dawn Bratsch-Prince
Intern Associate Dean
Director, LAS International
213 Catt Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
515.294.1162
deprince@iastate.edu
|
- Latin American Studies People
-
- Advisory Committee
- Kathy S. Leonard, Director
Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Linguistics, Department of World
Languages and Cultures
kleonard@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Latin American women's
literature, translation, second language acquisition, Hispanic dialectology.
Country interests: Bolivia, Cuba, Argentina
Current research project: Women of Silver and Tin:
The Forgotten Miners of Bolivia. Book dealing with Bolivian women
miners and their portrayal in fiction and non-fiction literature in Bolivia.
Julia Dominguez
Assistant Professor, Department of World Languages and Cultures
domingue@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Trans-Atlantic Studies (Colonial Latin-American literature and culture and Early
Modern Spanish liteature and culture). Cervantes. Hispanic Picaresque novel. Women authors of the early-modern period. Early modern cartography
and literature.
Country interests: Latin America in general
Current research project: Early Modern Cartography and Literature
- Nancy J. T. Guthrie
International Education Services, Study Abroad Center
nguthrie@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Service-Learning and Spanish.
Country interests: Bolivia, El Salvador, Mexico (generally
most of Spanish-speaking Latin America).
Current research project: Master's thesis dealing with assessment of student learning in service-learning and language acquisition
programs in the Spanish-speaking Americas.
- Rachel Haywood-Ferreira
Assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of World
Languages and Cultures
rachelhf@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Spanish and Portuguese language
and literature. Specialization in 19th-21st century Latin American literature
and culture, with an additional interest in the literatures and cultures
of colonial Latin America and of Portugal. Specifically, some of current
research and teaching interests are: Latin American science fiction, fantastic
literature, dictatorship novels, the boom and the post-boom, the construction
of the indio in Latin American literature, literature published
in periodicals (from the newspaper to the net).
Country interests: Generalist, but current research
concentrates on Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico).
Current research project: Currently researching and writing
about science fiction texts written in Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil from
c.1870-1920. Interest in how and why the genre reached Latin America from
its points of origin in Europe and the United States and how Latin American
writers adapted it to reflect their own realities. Examination of the
strong comparative element in Latin American science fiction, which ranges
from the close imitation or modeling of itself after first-world science
fiction texts, to extrapolation from them, to contrast with them.
- Eugenio Matibag
Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of World Languages and
Cultures
ematibag@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Hispanic Caribbean, Post-colonial
Studies, Spanish Philippines, Asian-American Studies.
Country interests: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti,
Mexico, Philippines.
Current research project: Spanish Philippine Literature:
1885-1941.
- Kristin Pesola
Assistant Professor of Spanish, Department of World Languages and
Cultures
kpesola@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Postrevolutionary Mexico,
early 20th century Latin American women writers, cultural politics, nationalism,
gender and sexuality, performance and film.
Country interests: Mexico, Argentina.
Current research project: A study of the work of Mexican
writer and cultural figure Antonieta Rivas Mercado within the context
of the nationalist debate of the 1920s and '30s and representations of
her in contemporary Mexican culture.
-
- Elisa Rizo
Lecturer, Department of World Languages and Cultures
rizoe@iastate.edu
Research/Teaching Interests: cultural, postcolonial and transatlantic studies. My research focuses on literary works and other cultural expressions produced by Afro-descendants in Spanish America as well as Equatorial Guinean writers. I am also interested in the treatment of the concepts of "ethnicity" and "race" in Mexico's official discourse, state institutions and literature. In the everyday practice of my profession, I enjoy teaching all levels of Spanish language, literature and culture, especially Spanish-American literature.
Countries of interest: Mexico, the transnational space of the African Diaspora in Spanish America, and Equatorial Guinea in Africa.
Current research project: a comparative analysis of literary expressions by writers of the African diaspora in Spanish America and by authors of Spanish-speaking Africa. I am also continuing research on official discourses related to Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples in Mexico.
- Maximilian Viatori
Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
viatori@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: The state/governance in
Latin America, neoliberalism, indigenous organization/movements, language
and ethnic identity.
Country interests: Ecuador.
Current research project: The Language of "Authenticity":
Shifting Constructions of Zápara Identity, the Politics of Indigenous
Representation, and the State in Amazonian Ecuador; project focusing
on the relationships among national and international capitalism, the
state and the role of language in representation/self-representation of
indigenous identity and political participation in Ecuador.
- Thomas Waldemer
Senior Lecturer in Spanish, Department of World Languages and Cultures
waldemer@iastate.edu
Research/teaching interests: Contemporary Latin American
Narrative, Latin American Historical Fiction, Brazilian Utopian Communities,
Brazilian Nativism, Translation, Language Acquisition at all Levels.
Country interests: Brazil in particular, Latin America
in general.
Current research project: "Hijacking Authority: Forgery,
Literacy, and Origins in Viva o povo brasileiro." This study of Joao Umbaldo
Ribeiro's historical novel traces the use of forged documents, the role
that functional illiteracy plays in the facilitation of fraud, the effacement
of origins implied by successful production (or manipulation) of spurious
texts, and the threat forgery presents to any attempt to reconstruct the
past.
|
- Tropical adventure
You can't consider yourself a biologist unless you have spent some time in the tropics.
At least that's the opinion of James Raich, associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.
So far into his career Raich has backed up his words with his actions. His master's work was done in Costa Rica, a diverse land of lowland rainforests, cloud forests, savannas, mountains and five active volcanoes.
Over the past few years, he has taken two Iowa State student groups on study abroad programs in Costa Rica.
And now Raich is part of a research team that has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to search for a way to restore forest systems to help slow the process of global warming - work that can be best accomplished in the diverse environmental conditions of Costa Rica.
"The biology is fully expressed in all its potential in Costa Rica," Raich said. "If a biologist doesn't take advantage of the environment in lowland rain forests, it would be like a musician trying to learn music without being exposed to the masters like Mozart and Beethoven. You can still learn, but think what you would miss out on."
Read More
|
