Author Archives: Michael Gomez

HISP Faculty Focus, February 2021: Dr. Christina García

Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus for February 2021 is Dr. Christina García

A member of Hispanic Studies since 2018, Dr. García holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of California, Irvine (2018) [with a dissertation focusing on “Touching Impenetrable Bodies: Material Ecologies in Cuban Literary and Visual Works”], an M.A. from New York University (2009) in Humanities and Social Thought, and a B.A. in English and Art History from Florida International University (2004).

As one might expect, such a varied formation and background has resulted in a unique and fascinating research agenda, as well as in more than one engaging course offering—among the latter, the fancifully titled “Cannibal Readers,” “Sea Anemone, Roach-men and Hurricanes” and “Talking Trash and Wasting Time: A Caribbean Ecology”; among the former, “Of Souls, Skins and Leopard Prints: Queer and Animal Creations of Cubanbeings” (Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, June 2021), “Baroque Revolutionaries, Communist Fags and Risky Friendships: Reading the Politics of Friendship in Fresa y chocolate” (Cuban Studies 47, 2019) and “The Ethics of Botched Taxidermy” (Antennae: the Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, Issue 7, Autumn 2008).

In addition to the above, Dr. García has enriched the department in many other ways, ranging from her serving as Faculty Advisor to the College’s Hispanic Latino Club to her recent co-organizing of a poetry reading featuring renowned author Susannah Rodríguez Drissi.

For the above and for much else, Hispanic Studies is fortunate to count Dr. Christina García among its faculty and proud to be able to feature her as this month’s HISP Faculty Focus.

In her own words…

“I am always so impressed by how bright and socially engaged the students are at the College of Charleston. Whether it’s Spanish 101 that I’m teaching, or a senior seminar, I love rereading works of fiction and analyzing visual art with them. The students here have diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and, in drawing from their lived experiences, their interpretations enrich and revitalize the objects we study. Teaching them is the best gig!”

 

Dr. Christina García’s Forthcoming Article in Revista de Estudios Hispánicos

Hispanic Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Christina García’s article, “Of Souls, Skins and Leopard Prints: Queer and Animal Creations of Cubanbeings,” was recently accepted for publication in Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. The piece will appear in the June 2021 volume. Congratulations to her on this impressive feat of scholarship.

 

 

HISP’s Dr. Joe Weyers’ Forthcoming Article in The Southern Journal of Linguistics

The Department of Hispanic Studies is proud to announce that Dr. Joe Weyers’ article, “A tale of three languages: Spanish, Guaraní, and English in Asunción, Paraguay,”  has recently been accepted for publication in the spring 2021 issue The Southern Journal of Linguistics. A hearty congratulations to Dr. Weyers for this considerable achievement!

HISP Student Focus, January 2021: Ms. Lily Andrews

HISP’s Student Focus for January 2021 is Ms. Lily Andrews (’23)

Ms. Andrews, a double minor in Spanish and Medical Humanities and a major in Public Health, is yet another wonderful example of the manner in which language and cultural studies can combine with other fields to enrich students personally and professionally.

Within the context of Hispanic Studies, Lily has, since 2020, contributed significantly as both a Substitute Peer Teacher for the Spanish Conversational Class Program and as a Spanish Tutor with the College’s Center for Student Learning.

In addition, she has been active with CofC’s Occupational and Physical Therapy Alliance, serving in various capacities (including that of Vice President, beginning in spring of 2021), as well as with the College’s Aquatic and Motor Therapy Program, FitCatz, where she works as a clinician with special needs children.

As if that weren’t enough, Ms. Andrews has also served as a Peer Advisor with the Office of Academic Advising and Planning and as a tour guide Charleston Forty.

In her own words…

With my future career goal to be a Pediatric Occupational Therapist in mind, I pursued a Spanish minor because I love the language and want to be able to provide care to those who speak it, but I never imagined the greater impact it would have on me. Taking courses such as Spanish Composition and Applied Spanish made me a more effective communicator in both Spanish and English. The skills I learned in those classes, such as how to be concise or how to interpret language in a way that accurately reflects the feeling behind the words spoken, will undoubtedly help me in my future career.

Additionally, I’ve taken courses focused on topics I was already interested in, such as sustainability and textual analysis. These courses have broadened my worldview by allowing me to see the world through perspectives I never would have had access to before. As a result, I have a deeper understanding of the issues that impact all of us, no matter where we live or the language we speak.

Being a member of the Hispanic Studies Department has also afforded me job opportunities that allow me to encourage other students as they learn and develop a passion for Spanish. I currently work as a Spanish tutor in the CSL, and in Fall 2021 I’ll be facilitating an FYE Synthesis Seminar. I hope I can be as helpful and encouraging to new Spanish students as the professors in the department have been to me!

 

HISP Faculty Focus, January 2021: Prof. Betsy Hance

HISP’s Faculty Focus for January 2021 is Prof. Betsy Hance

With a B.A. and an M.A. in Spanish—from UNC Charlotte and Chapel Hill, respectively—Prof. Betsy Hance brings considerable experience to her role as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Hispanic Studies.

Following the completion of her Master’s thesis, which dealt with the topic of “Dramatic Interpretations of the Conquest: Rodolfo Usigli’s Corona de fuego and Carlos Fuentes’ Todos los gatos son pardos,” Prof. Hance went on to teach as an instructor at Central Piedmont Community College and at UNC Charlotte, before making her way to Kennesaw State University and finally—thankfully! —to the College of Charleston in 2018.

When not brightening the days and opening the minds of students with her enthusiasm and knowledge of the Spanish language and its cultures, Prof. Hance has–among other things–volunteered her time as a certified medical interpreter in Spanish with the Cross Cultural Healthcare Program, as well as in the pediatric emergency room at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, both in Marietta, Georgia.

In her own words…

By far, the most rewarding aspect of teaching at the College of Charleston is my students.  I have always taught with a global perspective in mind, and the students here are so willing and ready to embrace new concepts.  I have been able to mentor and influence my students to pursue some of the many language-related opportunities that the Department offers. In addition to working with such terrific students, I have been most fortunate in my time here to have open, collaborative and inspirational colleagues. Best job ever.

HISP Student Focus, December 2020: Ms. Nicole Rogers

 

December 2020’s HISP Student Focus is Ms. Nicole Rogers (’21)

After starting off as a minor in Spanish, Nicole eventually decided to extend her studies by declaring a SPAN major…and a minor in Linguistics to boot!

Of course, as is the case with all Hispanic Studies majors and minors, Nicole has a wide range of interests.  As such, she has chosen to combine her Spanish studies with those in another field—Psychology—in which she is similarly pursuing a major. In each of these areas (not to mention others) Ms. Rogers has had considerable success, something evinced by her being named to the prestigious President’s List during the spring 2020 semester.

Outside of the Spanish classroom, Nicole has involved herself in such endeavors as peer mentoring students through the College’s innovative Adelante program –as well as through Eye to Eye, a national organization dedicated to helping students with learning differences thrive in the academic context–in addition to playing on CofC’s Ultimate Frisbee team, which, she says, has a lot of Spanish majors among its ranks (who knew!).

For all these reasons, and many more, Hispanic Studies is proud to close out 2020 on a high note by featuring Ms. Nicole Rogers as its Student Focus for December.

In her own words…

“My Spanish classes have probably been the highlight of my four years at CofC. I love the language, and the professors’ passion for their subject makes them teach everything so well, which has made me love the language even more […] Their excitement is infectious. Every day I learn something new within the classroom or during office hours [where they demonstrate their] talent/ability/superpower to make more complex and abstract concepts accessible. I will always remember my professor from this semester who gets so excited about course content that she sparks enthusiasm in her students, a trait that I’ve really appreciated during this semester of online classes.”

 

HISP Faculty Focus, December 2020: Dr. Ricard Viñas-de-Puig

 

Hispanic Studies’ Faculty Focus for December 2020 is Dr. Ricard Viñas-de-Puig.

A member of Hispanic Studies since 2014, Dr. Ricard Viñas-de-Puig received his B.A. in Translation and Interpreting from the Universitat de Vic (Vic, Spain) and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics and Linguistics, respectively, from Purdue University—with his doctoral dissertation focusing on the topic of “Argument Structure and Experience Verbs in Catalan and Mayangna.”

During his time spent as an Assistant and now an Associate Professor at the College of Charleston, Dr. Viñas-de-Puig has been an integral part of Hispanic Studies, offering a wide range of courses in both Spanish language and linguistics (SPAN), as well as within the larger context of the Linguistics Minor Program (LING), of which he is currently director. In addition, he has consistently mentored some of the department’s top students, fostering their research in the Bachelor’s Essay context, among other places.

An accomplished scholar whose work has appeared in such prestigious venues as Heritage Language Journal, Southern Journal of Linguistics and in the upcoming volume, Amazonian Spanish: Language Contact and Evolution, Dr. Ricard also knows how to let his hair down–something he has done in good measure in his past advising of CofC’s Linguistics Club, as well as at more than one Tertulia and Casa Hispana cultural event.

In his own words…

‘Language is what makes us human, it is what has made us the unique species we are; language and languages are my passion. Teaching both Spanish and linguistics classes at CofC allows me to share this passion of mine with my students: I like sharing the beauty of the intricacies of Spanish, how certain verb forms allow you to express some nuances that are not possible in other languages; I like showing the complexity of different languages, but how they all share a beautiful, intricate systematicity; I enjoy teaching how language and culture are different, independent human capacities, but how at the same time they inform one another. One of the things that makes me the proudest in my profession is seeing a student being able to communicate a new idea in Spanish, a language that is not their first language, or seeing the ‘wow!’ moment in a student’s eyes when they learn a new, neat linguistic concept. And I am happy to be able to experience all of this at CofC.’

 

Hispanic Studies Faculty Focus, November 2020 / Carola Ramírez-Castello

Carola Ramírez-Castello is Hispanic Studies’ Faculty Focus for November 2020

An adjunct faculty member since 2016, Ms. Ramírez-Castello  has formed an important part of the Department’s Basic Spanish Language Program.

Prior to arriving at the College, Carola completed studies in Biology at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, in Lima, Peru, and earned her M.A. from the Department of Latin American Studies at The University of Kansas, with a focus in “Afro-Peruvian Identity  and Its Connections with the Land.”

Such a varied educational background led to Ms. Ramírez-Castello’s employ at Illinois Wesleyan University, were she served as a laboratory instructor in General Biology and Anatomy & Physiology, and--thankfully--to her association with Hispanic Studies, which is so much enriched by her presence.

In her own words…

“Being a teacher at the College of Charleston has been a great experience since the beginning.  The supportive environment motivates me to thrive and give my best to the students.  Teaching Spanish in a cultural and environmental context helps me to instill empathy for others in the students.  To be respectful of other cultures and environments is an important quality in today’s world and is essential to becoming a global citizen.”

Hispanic Studies, November 2020 Student Focus: Mr. John Quirk

John Quirk is Hispanic Studies’ Student Focus for November 2020

Following his arrival at CofC in the fall of 2018, John wasted little time in getting involved with the Department of Hispanic Studies as a student pursuing a minor in Spanish, a peer tutor in the language with the Center for Student Learning, an attendant at monthly Tertulias, and as a participant in the College’s study abroad program in La Habana, Cuba (where he is pictured, above, “tomando un cafecito” during a break between classes).

A Junior in the Honors College, John has paired his minor course of study in Spanish with a major in International Studies, distinguishing himself in both areas by being named to the prestigious President’s List for the spring 2020 semester.

Of course, John has also kept himself busy outside of the classroom–among other ways, by hosting two programs on CofC’s Cistern Yard Radio.

For all these reasons, and more, HISP is proud to feature Mr. John Quirk as our Student Focus for the month of November.

In his own words…

My experience with the Hispanic Studies department has been phenomenal so far. I have had the opportunity to study abroad in Havana, Cuba, which has helped my development as a Spanish speaker immensely, and I hope to study abroad again in the future. I have had some great professors—including Dr. Hakobyan and Dr. Gómez—who have both shown profound interest in the development of my Spanish skills as well as a passion for the Spanish language.

Throughout my experience, I have had the opportunity to take some fascinating courses, such as a course examining Latin American cultures through the lens of cinema. With the courses offered, I have been able to improve my Spanish as well as learn about Hispanic cultures and history.

I hope to one day be fluent in Spanish and use this fluency to somehow help people by facilitating communication. My classes in the Hispanic Studies department are bringing me closer to this goal of fluency, while also providing me with knowledge of history, literature, and culture. I look forward to the future classes I will take with this department as I continue my studies and the connections I will make along the way.