Areas of Specialization in FAU’s Spanish Studies Program
While our faculty members teach a wide range of courses encompassing most areas of the field, our program has several areas of recognized strengths and specialization. Graduate students looking for courses and thesis advisors in the following areas are encouraged to contact professors for more information on these subspecialties. In addition, our professors participate actively in several interdisciplinary programs in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and we draw on expertise from other departments and disciplines throughout the university community to provide our students a well-rounded education.
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Dr. Nora Erro-Peralta, our senior professor in Spanish,
is one of the pioneers in the field of Latin American women
writers, having edited foundational anthologies that introduced
a generation of readers to this rich literary tradition, such
as Beyond the Border: A New Age in Latin American
Women’s Fiction, La nueva escritora hispánica, and Puerta abierta: la nueva escritora latinoamericana.
Her articles on gender in Latin American literature and her
work as the past president of the Asociación
Internacional de Literatura Femenina Hispánica afford
our students special access to the scholarship and writings of
a host of Latin American writers. Dr. Yolanda Gamboa recently
completed a book on the writings of Spanish author, Maria de
Zayas, Cartografía social en la narrativa de Marí de
Zayas. Dr. Michael J. Horswell’s book, Decolonizing the Sodomite: Queer Tropes of Sexuality in
Colonial Andean Culture is a recent contribution to the
new field of sexuality studies in Latin America. Dr. Nancy
Poulson, is a recognized scholar on 20 th century Latin American writers, including women
writers. This focus is supported by our department’s
faculty in the Comparative Literature program, and FAU’s
Women’s Studies program. Our French medievalist, for
example, Dr. Marcella Munson, teaches and publishes on women,
writing, and power in the Middle Ages.
Some of our recent courses in this area include
“Women and Nation: Thoughts, Voices, and Actions of Latin
American Women Activists,” “Contemporary Latinas
Writing in the United States,” “Women in Latin
American Theater,” “Politics and Latin American
Women’s Fiction,” and “Gender and Sexuality
in Spanish Golden Age Literature,” “Feminist Theory
and Praxis.”
Spanish and Latin American Cultural Studies
While the primary objects of study in our courses continue
to be canonical works of literature, our professors’
research and teaching increasingly include other aspects of the
rich and diverse cultures of Spain and Latin America. For
example, Dr. Yolanda Gamboa’s research on the material
culture of Golden Age Spain has resulted in important
publications on such topics as the role of chocolate in the
Spanish literary imaginary. Dr. Erro-Peralta
regularly offers courses on cultural and political dimensions of
Latin American literature and film, like her “Dictatorship
and the Latin American Novel” course. Our department also
participates in the Andean Cultural Studies program in Ecuador
each summer, which allows students to earn graduate credits while
studying the culture of the Andes.
Other recent courses in this area include
“La huella de lo real: El testimonio en el cine y la
literatura latinoamericanos,” “Pensamiento
latinoamericano: Identidades, escritura y poder en América
Latina,” “Introducción a la teoría
literaria y cultural,” “Literatura y cine
mexicano”and "Road Movies and Travel Tales from
Latin America."
Golden Age and Transatlantic Studies
The field of Early Modern Studies is well represented in
our department with Dr. Michael J. Horswell and Dr. Yolanda
Gamboa working both sides of the Atlantic, and is also
complemented by many scholars in other disciplines of our
College who work together on interdisciplinary projects and
courses. Dr. Yolanda Gamboa’s research on Golden Age
Spain and its Atlantic crossings translate into both
publications and a seminar each spring on topics ranging from
the c omedia to Don Quijote to Women in Golden Age
literature and culture. Dr. Michael J. Horswell’s book, Decolonizing the Sodomite, works from a transatlantic
perspective while focused on the colonial discourse that is the
other side of the Golden Age. Dr. Horswell and Dr. Gamboa are
offering a series of seminars on Transatlantic Studies, which
began with Dr. Horswell’s “Estudios
transatlánticos: Escribir en las fronteras del imperio
español” in the Fall of 2004. They both
contributed to a new book on Transatlantic Studies titled Crosscurrents: Transatlantic Perspectives on Early Modern
Spanish and Spanish-American Theater. Dr. Frederic Conrod
works at the intersection between France and Spain, co-editing
the Franco-Iberian journal,
Transitions,
and
offering classes on topics related to the legacies of the
Enlightenment in Spanish and French literatures . Dr. Miguel Angel Vázquez, of FAU’s
Honors College, is a regular contributor to these classes as a
guest lecturer and ocassionally offers seminars in his
specialty of medieval Spanish and Renaissance Morisco
literature and culture.
Some of our recent courses in this area include
“Perspectives on Don Quijote,” “Political and
Social Representation in the Comedia Española,”
“Feminine Authorship in the Spanish Golden Age,”
“Seminar in Colonial Latin American
Literature.”
Caribbean Literature and Culture
Given our close proximity to the Caribbean and the
prominent presence of the Caribbean diaspora in South Florida,
Caribbean Studies has become an important interdisciplinary
endeavor at FAU. Dr. Mary Ann Gosser-Esquilín is an
accomplished scholar of Caribbean literature, with numerous
publications on Spanish Caribbean as well as Francophone
literatures. Our college’s English department routinely
offers courses on Caribbean literature and is home to frequent
collaborators whose research focuses on both the Caribbean and
the diaspora literature of the US Latino community. The College
of Arts and Letters also has Caribbean scholars in the fields of
History, Philosophy, Sociology, and Women’s Studies.
Some of our recent courses in this area include "Los
colores de la nación: Populismo, antropología y
literatura en el Caribe Hispano,” and “Comparative
Caribbean Literature,” "Women Writing the
Caribbean."
Andean Studies
FAU is building a strong focus on the Andean region from
interdisciplinary perspectives. Dr. Michael J. Horswell’s
primary area of research and teaching is in Andean Studies and
he is the director of FAU’s Andean Cultural Studies
program in Ecuador, where we have several reciprocal agreements
with leading universities. Students are encouraged to
participate in the summer study–abroad program to enhance
their knowledge of the field. FAU has active scholars in Andean
Studies in Anthropology, Archeology, and Human Geography,
affording us unique perspectives on this exciting region.
Some of our recent courses offered in Spanish include
“Literatura y cine de los Andes,” “The
Heresies of Mestizaje: Colonial and Postcolonial Andean Literature
and Culture,” and “Orality and Writing in Colonial
and Post-colonial Andean Literature,” and
“Literatura Andina: Del Incaismo al
Post-indigenismo.”
Translation Studies
Translation Studies is a growing field of interest in our
department. Dr. Yolanda Gamboa is an active, literary translator,
whose latest translation, El fin del mundo como obra de arte [ The End of the World as a Work of Art] by Spanish
philosopher and award winning novelist Rafael Argullol will be
published in Fall, 2005. She offers courses on
Spanish–English literary translation. Dr. Martha
Mendoza’s “History of the Spanish Language” and
“Spanish Phonology and Dialectology” are important
classes for those interested in the nuances of the language, so
necessary in translation. Our senior French professor, Dr.
Jan Hokenson, a pioneer in Comparative Literature, in addition to
myriad articles on issues of cultural translation, recently
published Japan,
France, and East-West Aesthetics: French Literature, 1867-2000 and frequently leads seminars in theory of
translation. She and our French medieval scholar, Dr. Marcella
Munson, are co-writing a new history of self-translation in the
Western literary tradition. Our Italian scholar, Dr. Myriam
Ruthenberg, offers courses reflecting her research and
publication in the translation and re-writing of Medieval and
Renaissance texts in contemporary Italian literature and the
influence of the Hebrew Bible in literature with emphasis on
novelist Erri De Luca. Our Spanish linguist, Dr. Martha Mendoza,
regularly offers a course on the dynamics of bilingualism.
Some of our recent courses include “Spanish Literary
Translation,” “Translation Theory,”
“Bilingualism,” "Spanish Translation Workshop,"
and "Italian Translation Workshop."
The study of the literature and culture is grounded in available courses in Spanish Linguistics, including Dr. Martha Mendoza’s “History of the Spanish Language” and “Spanish Phonology and Dialectology.” Dr. Justin White also offers courses on Spanish Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition and trains our graduate teaching assistants to be excellent Spanish language and culture instructors. All MA students graduate with a solid formation in Linguistics and Teaching Theories and Methodologies.
