Teaching

Vision for Teaching

As a teacher of literature, and specifically Latin American literature, I have the unique responsibility to not only impart material, but to introduce students to voices and cultures that are often not their own. To undertake this task, I approach my teaching with four principle objectives: (1) to help my students develop close reading skills that will make them more attentive and curious readers of literature; (2) to hone their ability to write effectively and articulate complex ideas in English and Spanish; (3) to arm them with hermeneutic tools that will facilitate a deeper understanding of texts and cultures; and (4) to foster a relationship with literary works that, in addition to leaving space for enjoyment of literature, cultivates an appreciation of the ways in which aesthetics and literary form and content enable new means of understanding and engaging with the world.

University Teaching

University of British Columbia

Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (2019-Present)

  • SPAN 590. Narrativa Sonora: El sonido en la literatura contemporánea de Latinoamérica
  • SPAN 590. Sonidos textuales y escritos sonoros: Central American Literary Soundscapes
  • SPAN 550. Latin(x) American Speculative Fictions in the Anthropocene
  • SPAN 550: Porn Lit: Critical Approaches to Erotic Literature in Latin America and Spain
  • SPAN 490: Assassination, Disappearance, Impunity: Latin American Detective Fiction and the Nation State
  • SPAN 365: Modern Magics: Spanish-American Literature and Culture since the 1820s
  • SPAN 312: Hopscotch: 20th- and 21st-Century Latin American Literature
  • SPAN 202: Advanced Beginner Spanish Language

Latin American Studies Program (2019-Present)

  • LAST 315: Food in Mexico and Central America
  • LAST 303: Indigenous Peoples, Globalization, and Labour in Latin America (visit the course blog to learn about podcasting as a learning outcome, to view open access pedagogical materials, and to listen to student podcast episodes.
  • LAST 303: Latin American Indigenous Foodways: Click here for open access podcast lectures
  • LAST 100: Introduction to Latin American Studies

Indiana University, Bloomington

Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Latino Studies Program (2012-2018)

  • HISP 280: Advanced Spanish Grammar & Composition in Literary Context
  • HISP 250: Basic Language IV
  • HISP 105: Accelerated Basic Language I
  • LATS 103: Introduction to Latino Cultures & Literatures

Clemson University

Department of Languages (2010-2012)

  • SPAN 202: Basic Language IV
  • SPAN 201: Basic Language III
  • SPAN 102: Accelerated Basic Language I

University of Santiago de Compostela

Department of English Philology, Galicia, Spain (2009-2010)

  • English Philology I: Pre-intermediate Language, Literature and Culture
  • English Philology II: Intermediate Language, Literature and Culture
  • English Philology IV: Advanced Literature and Translation

University of Kansas

Department of Spanish and Portuguese (2007-2009)

  • SPAN 111: Accelerated Basic Spanish

Study Abroad Coordination and Teaching

Indiana University

Honors Program in Foreign Languages, León, Spain (Summer 2013)

  • Hispanic Literatures I, II, III

Clemson University

Study Abroad Director, Quito, Ecuador (Summer 2012)

  • SPAN 398: Ecuadorian Literature and History
  • International Studies 210: Ecuadorian Culture in Context

University of Kansas

Summer Immersion Program, Barcelona, Spain (Summer 2009)

  • SPAN 270: Literature, Culture and History of Spain

Studies Abroad. Left: The cast of Se vende una mula before taking the stage in León, Spain (Summer 2014). Right: The 2012 Clemson Language Immersion Program (CLIP) students in Atlanta to meet Latin(x) American baseball players and coaches on the Braves.