About Me

My teaching aims to show that learning Spanish implies much more than just becoming proficient in another language. It also involves the study and appreciation of diverse perspectives and experiences from many different cultures and peoples. We gain access to these voices primarily through film, literature, and other forms of cultural production. Likewise, the study of Spanish is also an invitation to develop clear communication abilities as well as strong argument formulation and critical thinking skills.

As such, my courses have a strong focus on cultural analysis and personal reflection. To facilitate this type of learning, I rely on inclusive teaching strategies to constantly engage students, such as the incorporation of many different daily activities in class that target speaking, listening, reading, writing, and critical cultural analysis. In addition, I also create a variety of broader course projects and assessments so that we may explore the material on an even deeper level.

This approach to teaching is largely influenced by my research interests in 20th- and 21st-century Central American literary, filmic and cultural production. The critical questions with which I most frequently engage center on issues of social equality, processes of discrimination and marginalization, and projects of resistance. While my research has primarily focused on the region’s “post-war” period of the 1990s and early 2000s, I am beginning a larger scholarly project on futuristic and speculative fiction in Central America.

My most recent peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Latin American Literary Review, Revista Iberoamericana and Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas (forthcoming).

Courses Taught