¡Bienvenidos!
The research and teaching of the Spanish Literatures and Cultures Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign encompasses the literatures and cultures of both Spain and the Americas. As scholars and teachers, we actively seek out connections between different geopolitical and linguistic areas, while remaining grounded in cultural, linguistic and historical specificity. Most members of our faculty also hold affiliations in other academic campus units, in recognition of their interdisciplinary scholarship. Our award-winning scholarly work has been published by presses such as MLA, U of North Carolina P, Vanderbilt UP, Bucknell UP, and Anthropos.
The faculty members of the Spanish Literature and Cultures graduate programs are proud of the committed mentoring we provide our MA and PhD students. We guide our students individually as they develop as members of the profession, encouraging them to present research at major national and international conferences, and publish scholarly articles. Most of our students have placed at least one article in a professional journal by the time they leave our doctoral program. Virtually all of our doctoral graduates enter the profession in their first year after graduation, most in tenure-track positions.
Faculty
Ericka Beckman, Assistant Professor (19th and 20th century Latin American literature and culture; political economy and literature; Marxism; globalization and illegality; narco-trafficking and culture)
Luisa Elena Delgado, Associate Professor (Modern and Contemporary Spanish Studies; culture, ideology, aesthetics; cultural construction of identities; normative citizenship; cultural and literary theory)
Dara Goldman, Associate Professor (Hispanic Caribbean and U.S Literatures/cultures; gender and sexualities studies; cultural studies; contemporary literary theory)
Javier Irigoyen-García, Assistant Professor (Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Studies; Race and Cultural Studies; Orientalism)
Mariselle Meléndez, Associate Professor (Colonial Spanish America; eighteenth-century studies; global coloniality, race, gender and cultural studies; the cultures and politics of the Enlightenment)
Joyce Tolliver, Associate Professor (19th and 20th century literature and cultures of Spain; gender and sexuality studies; narrative and discourse theory; translation studies)