Sophia A. McClennen

Associate Professor

of Comparative Literature, Spanish, and Women's Studies

Director of the Graduate Program in Comparative Literature

Personal Info:

• e-mail: sam50@psu.edu
• Office: 435N Burrowes
• Office Hours: By appointment.
• Office Phone: 865-0032
• My Research: An Internet Gateway
• My CV

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Current Courses

• CMLIT 521/SPAN 597F: Cultural Studies in the Americas

Previously Taught Courses

• SPAN 220: Reading Ibero-American Civilization
• SPAN 253: Introduction to Hispanic Literature
• CMLIT 405: Inter-American Literature (Focus on Personal Narrative in the Americas)
• CMLIT005H: Literature of the Americas
• CMLIT405: Inter-American Literature (Focus on The Representation of Sex, Power, and Politics in the Americas)
• CMLIT406: Women and World Literature
• CMLIT597A: Global Counter-Cinema
• CMLIT521: Comparative Seminar in Inter-American Literature

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Special Resources

Cinergia: A Web Resource for the Study of Spanish, Latin American and Latino Cinema

An Ariel Dorfman Resource Page

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My Student Resources

• Guide to Dissertations (and Theses) in Comparative Literature
• Close Reading Guide
• Useful Information for Students Writing in Spanish
• Vocabulario Clave para el Análisis de la Literatura/Cine/Televisión (con términos especiales para el análisis de la poesía, el drama y los movimientos literarios
• Diccionario Español/English of film terms
• Diccionario de conceptos claves para el estudio de cine
• Abreviaturas para la redacción de trabajos escritos
• Paper Grading Rubric

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Links

• Department, PSU and Academic Links

• Individual Home pages

• Research Resources

• Critical Thinking, Theory, and Useful Critical Terms

• Resources in Spanish

• Bibliographies

• Journals

• Grammar, Composition, And Other Spanish Language Tools

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Departmental and PSU Links

• Department of Comparative Literature at PSU
• Graduate Study in Comparative Literature at PSU
• Funding Opportunities and Awards for Graduate Students in the Department of Comparative Literature Search these pages for internal and external awards, for tips on grant writing and for other general information on grant applications.
• International American Studies Association
• PSU Americanists

People: (Some Homepages with lots of great resources)

• Michael Bérubé
• Michael Chanan
• Ariel Dorfman
• Grover Furr
• Henry Giroux
• Douglas Kellner
• Steven Totosy

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Research Resources

Databases and Resources available through PSU (In some cases you must have a PSU login and password to access these)

• The CAT: PSU Libraries Catalog
• E-Resource List
• JStor
• Literature Online Full-Text Journals
• Project Muse
• MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures
• WorldCat
• Contemporary Literary Criticism.
• Dictionary of Literary Biography
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism

Other Resources

• Glossary of Poetic Terms
• Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style
• The Internet Movie Database
• Box Office Mojo

Dictionaries

• The Oxford English Dictionary
• yourDictionary.com
  Real Academia Española
• Diccionarios Vox Varios diccionarios para consultas en línea
• Alternative Spanish: Very STRONG, VULGAR Language, Not for the faint of heart!
• Diccionario Anaya de la Lengua
• Activa General Spanish-English Dictionary

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Critical Thinking, Theory, and Useful Critical Terms

• The English Sever --Links to many critical resources
• Illuminations: The Critical Theory Website is a WWW research resource for those interested in the Critical Theory project. Firmly based in Frankfurt School thought, this site maintains a collection of articles, excerpts, and chapters from many contemporary writers of and about Critical Theory. Additional submissions from graduate students and others are also available, as are links to other websites and related sources. 
• Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research
• Cultural Studies Strikes Back: Sites devoted to Cultural Studies theorists such as bell hooks and Henry Giroux.
• Cultural Studies Central by Robin Markowitz
• Popcultures.com, Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center
• kiss of the panopticon (plain-speaking site that gives "people a quick, user-friendly, one-stop shopping guide to new media literacy, as well as cultural/critical theory and its relationship with communications and new media, including the Internet") (Doug Bicket, U. Washington)
• The Grammar of Film and Television: Essential Reading for anyone who is studying media.
• Marxist Media Theory by Daniel Chandler-- A clear, brief overview of Marxist approaches to Media Theory.
• Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature by George Landow
• Semiotics for beginners by Daniel Chandler
• Classes of signs
• Some Elements of Structuralism and its Application to Literary Theory

• Critical Theory, Poststructuralism, and the Philosophy of Liberation

• Postmodern Politics and the Battle for the Future

• A Postcolonial Perspective by Terry DeHay

•  Toward a Framework for Audience Studies by Steven Totosy
• Definitions for Media Studies by Steven Totosy 

Resources for work on Spain and Latin America

• Cinergia: a website dedicated to Spanish, Latin American and Latino Cinema
• Encyclopedia of Latin American Women Writers
• Centro de Estudios La Mujer en la Historia de América Latina, CEMHAL Dirigido por Sara Beatriz Guardia
• Andanzas al Web Latino -- http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/bord/latino.html --compendium of Latino/US-Mexico Border Resources
• Jon Beasley-Murray, "Latin American Studies and the Global System"
• Proyecto Ensayo Hispánico
• Reflexiones: http://www.monmouth.edu/~pgacarti/index.html : Essays on Contemporary Spanish-American Women Writers --Many on-line sources

• Posmodernidad y la lógica cultural del capitalismo tardío

• LANIC is a comprehensive guide to online material and databases in and about the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Links are organized by country as well as by subject areas. Subject areas range from the African Diaspora, Cinema and Agriculture to Business and Finance to Sports and Immigration.
• LANIC: Cinema and Video
• Latin American Video Archive
• Resources for Locating and Evaluating Latin American Videos
• LASA, the Latin American Studies Association site, includes LASA Papers Online and the LASA Forums Online.
• The Latin American Database Online is an Internet-based news service in English about Latin America.
• The Political Database of the Americas, a joint Georgetown University-OAS project.
• Latin American and Caribbean Government Documents Project alerts users to the locations and contents of Latin American government sites on the WWW.
• The University of New Mexico's La Guia Nueva, a guide to using the Internet for Latin American Studies.
• A list of links to Luso-Afro-Brazilian culture. See also: the AfroCubaWeb and the African Diaspora links on LANIC.
• Latin America on the Net
• Más de cien años de cine mexicano a great site with a lot of info and images.

Bibliographies:

• Inter-American literature and criticism: an electronic annotated bibliography, by Earl. E Fitz at U of Iowa P.  A wonderful extensive resource of comparative approaches to Latin America.
• Bibliographies for work in comparative culture, literature, & media and communication studies at CLC Web
• Bibliography of Readings on Postcolonialism Recommended by Terry DeHay
• “Comparative Latin American Culture and Literature.”  by Sophia A. McClennen in Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. Eds. Sophia McClennen and Earl Fitz. Reprint of Thematic Issue of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture: A WWWeb Journal 4.2 (2002).
• De identidades: María Luisa Bemberg, filmografía y bibliografía (second Edition). Por  Lourdes Vázquez

Journals

• Cultural Logic: An e-journal of Marxist Theory and Practice
• E.I.A.L.: ESTUDIOS INTERDISCIPLINARIOS DE AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE an on-line interdisciplinary journal published through Tel Aviv University.
• CLCWeb: an on-line Journal of Comparative Literature and Culture
• On-line Journals
• Screening the Past: An international, refereed, electronic journal of visual  media and history.
•  Jouvert: A Journal of Postcolonial Studies
• Ciberletras: Revista electrónica de critica dedicada a las literaturas de España y de Latinoamérica
• A Contracorriente: A Journal on Social History and Literature in Latin America

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Grammar, Composition, And Other Spanish Language Tools

• Cómo citar recursos electrónicos
• Centro Virtual Cervantes
  Muchos enlaces sobre la lengua española y sitios para aprender español en la Web.
• Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures
  Más de 100 enlaces a sitios excelentes sobre la lengua española y sitios para
  aprender español en la Web.
• Electronic Flashcards for Spanish
  The idea behind this project is to mimic, in an electronic format, flashcards as they are used to learn Spanish. Theidea with flashcards, is that you look at one side of the card, think of the answer, then flip the card over to see if youwere right. On this web page, this takes the form of displaying one side of the card in one frame and then the answer in an adjacent frame.
• Grammar Review  En esta página Juan Manuel Soto Arriví incluye diversos enlaces que espero resulten de utilidad tanto a educadores como estudiantes del español.  Deben visitar los ejercicios suyos.
• Vocabulary Training Exercises: In English, German, French and Spanish
• Webspanish: Online Language Resources
• Reglas de Acentos
• La Página del Idioma Español , Uno de los recursos de lectura en español más admirados y respetados por la sobriedad y calidad de la información seleccionada
• Archivo Gramatical de la Lengua Española
• Grammar/ Gramática (BusinessSpanish.com)
• Learn Spanish - Spanish Grammar Tutorial
• QUIA: Spanish - Grammar
• Spanish Grammar & Vocabulary Tutorials
• Spanish Grammar Exercises (Colby)
• Spanish Grammar Exercises Index (Trinity)
• Spanish Grammar Help
• Spanish Grammar Practice (University of York)
• Spanish Language Drills
• Spanish Language - Grammar, Guide picks (About.com)

While on a Fulbright to Peru in 2003 I taught a seminar at the PUCP on Latin American women writers.  Three students from this class are currently pursuing graduate study at PSU!

With Biagio D'Angelo, literary critic and comparatist, in Lima.

With Stefan Kaspar, co-founder of Grupo Chaski, and film stars Marino Leon and Rosa Isabel Morffino.  My research in Peru focused on their work.

With Peruvian friends Ricardo and Sofia on our last night in Peru.

With Trinh T. Minha during her ACLA Keynote in 2005, hosted at PSU. 

With my kids, Isabel and Sebastian, on a Fulbright to Halifax, Canada.

Holding Barbara Trent's Oscar during her visit to PSU

Celebrating Barbara Trent's visit with PhD student Sara Armengott