Sophia A. McClennen

Department of Comparative Literature, 311 Burrowes, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA  16802, e-mail: sam50@psu.edu, Voice: (office) 814-865-0032, (home) 814-278-7738, home page: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/s/a/sam50/

DEGREES:

Ph.D. Duke University 1997 Spanish & Latin American Literature, Certificate in Latin American Studies

M.A. Duke University 1991 Spanish & Latin American Literature

A.B. Harvard University 1987 Philosophy, cum laude

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION:

Inter-American, Transatlantic, and Postcolonial Comparative Cultural Studies, Modern Latin America, Modern Spain, Film Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Theory

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (selected):

Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Spanish, and Women’s Studies. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Fall 2003-.

Graduate Director, Program in Comparative Literature. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Fall 2006-. Co-Director, Fall 3003-Spring 2005.

Visiting Professor. Department of Literature. La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú, Lima, Peru, Spring 2003.

Acting Assistant Director. Women’s Studies Program. Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Spring 2002.

Assistant Professor. Department of Foreign Languages.  Women’s Studies Affiliated Faculty. Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Fall 1997- June 2003.

Visiting Professor. La Universidad de Santiago, Santiago, Chile. Fall 1993.

Visiting Scholar. Universidad Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile. Summer 1992.

PUBLICATIONS:

Books

Ariel Dorfman: An Aesthetics of Hope, forthcoming Duke UP, expected publication date Fall 2008.

 

The Dialectics of Exile: Nation, Time, Language and Space in Hispanic Literatures. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004.

 

Edited Books and Journals

 

With Joseph Slaughter, eds. Thematic Issue of Comparative Literature Studies on “Literary Forms and Human Rights.” Expected release date October 2008.

 

With Henry James Morello, eds. Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror. Thematic issue of CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.1 (2008). <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol9/iss1/> To be published as a volume with Purdue UP in 2009.

 

With Earl E. Fitz, eds. Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004. Revised and expanded version of our guest co-edited thematic issue of CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture 4.2 (June 2002).

 

With Ron Strickland, eds. (Dis)Locations of Culture: Chilean Culture after Pinochet. Special issue of Mediations 22 (Spring 1999).

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters 

“Neoliberalism and the Crisis of Academic Engagement” forthcoming in a Special issue of Works and Days. Scheduled for September 2008.

 

 "The Theory and Practice of the Peruvian Grupo Chaski." Jump Cut 50 (2008).

 

“E Pluribus Unum/ Ex Uno Plura: Legislating and Deregulating American Studies post 9/11.” CR: The New Centennial Review 8.1 (2008): 145-75.

 

 “The Humanities, Human Rights, and the Comparative Imagination.” In Sophia A. McClennen and Henry James Morello, eds. Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror. Thematic issue of CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.1 (2008)  http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol9/iss1/.

 

(With Henry James Morello). “Introduction” in Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror. Thematic issue of CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.1 (2008) http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol9/iss1/.

 

 “Area Studies Beyond Ontology: Notes on Latin American Studies, American Studies, and Inter-American Studies.” A contracorriente 5.1 (2007): 173-184.

 

“Countering the Assault on Higher Education.” Radical Teacher. Special issue “Repression and Resistance in Higher Education.” 77 (2007): 15-9.

 

“The Geopolitical War on U.S. Higher Education.” College Literature. Special Issue “The Assault on Higher Education.” 33.4 (Fall 2006): 43-75.

 

“Inter-American Studies or Imperial American Studies?” Comparative American Studies 3.4 (2005): 393-413.

 

“The Diasporic Subject in Ariel Dorfman’s Heading South, Looking North.” MELUS 30.1. (Spring 2005):169-188.

 “The World According to Miramax: Chocolate, Poetry and Neoliberal Aesthetics.” American Visual Cultures. Eds. Dave Holloway and John Beck. London: Continuum, March 2005, 241-248.

“Exilic Perspectives on ‘Alien Nations.’” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 7.1 (2005).

 

“Poetry and Torture.” World Literature Today 78, nos. 3-4 (September-December 2004): 68-70.

 

"La cultura latinoamericana y los estudios interamericanos: proposiciones, peligros, posibilidades," in Espacios y discursos compartidos en la literatura de América Latina, Ed. Biagio D'Angelo. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientiae, 2004: 259-272.

 

(With Earl E. Fitz.) “An Introduction to Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America.” Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. Eds. Sophia A. McClennen and Earl E. Fitz. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004: 1-8. Reprint from CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 4.2 (2002).

“Comparative Literature and Latin American Studies: From Disarticulation to Dialogue.” Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. Eds. Sophia A. McClennen and Earl E. Fitz. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004:111-36. Reprint from CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 4.2 (2002).

"Are Cultural Studies ‘Against Literature’: Reading Testimonial and Film in the Latin American Canon" Woman as Witness. Eds. Linda S. Maier and Isabel Dulfano. New York: Peter Lang, 2003: 63-80.

“Así fue: Anti-colonial Narrative in Alejo Carpentier's Concierto barroco and Reinaldo Arenas’s El mundo alucinante.” A contracorriente 1:1 (2003): 51-81.

 

“After Civilization: The Theory and Practice of Introducing Latin American Culture.” ADFL Bulletin 34:2 (Winter 2003): 6-14.

 

“(De)Signing Women: Mexican Women Directors and Feminist Film.”  Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 36:1 (January 2002): 69-96.

"A Critical Overview of Ariel Dorfman." The Review of Contemporary Fiction 21:3 (2000): 81-132.

"Chilex: The Economy of Transnational Media Culture." Cultural Logic 3:1 (2000). [revision of article formerly published in Mediations.]

 “Cultural Politics, Rhetoric, and the Essay: A Comparison of Emerson and Rodó.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 2:1 (2000).

"Chilex: The Economy of Transnational Media Culture." Mediations 22 (1999): 86-111.

Refereed Contributions to Reference Works:

 

“Maria Luisa Bombal;” “Diamela Eltit;” “Alicia Partnoy;” “Cristina Peri Rossi” The Feminist Encyclopedia of Latin America. Eds. Maria Claudia Andre and Eva Paulina Bueno. New York: Routledge, Forthcoming 2008.

 

“Cristina Peri Rossi.” Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature. Eds. Gaëtan Brulotte and John Phillips. London: Routledge: New York, 2006: 1012-15.

 

Research in Progress

 

Globalization and Resistance in Latin American Cinema focuses on the media landscape post 1989.  The 1990s marked a significant shift in media globalization -- one that heralded the rise of free trade, the consolidation of media into the hands of a few multinational corporations, the waning of national quotas, and the almost total saturation of Latin America by foreign cultural products. Currently most Latin American countries screen 95% or more of their films from Hollywood.  Against this grim picture of cultural globalization there is another story:  The 1990s marked a wave of commercially successful films from Latin America and five of the top fifteen box office successes for foreign films in the United States market are from Latin America.  What perhaps is even more noteworthy is the fact that many of the films on this list have left-leaning messages and are critical of neoliberalism and global capitalism. The goal of my book is to make sense of these two competing versions of Latin America’s relationship to media globalization.  My central thesis is that understanding globalization and resistance in Latin American Cinema requires rethinking the parameters through which scholars have tended to frame debates about globalization and cultural diversity.  The global-local dynamic, which has shaped to some degree almost all debates about globalization and culture, no longer works as a useful model.  I argue that understanding globalization and resistance requires moving away from a focus on categories of identity to a focus on structures of power and politics.  

 

Essays in Progress:

 

“Cultural Studies and ‘Latin America’: Reframing the Questions” for a volume entitled Cultural Studies: The Way Ahead, edited by Paul Smith

  

“Is Ariel Dorfman a Latino? Alterlatino Ethics and Latino Ontologies”

 

"The Curse of Neoliberalism: Sex and Social Violence in Y tu mamá también and The Nanny and the Iceberg"

Non-Refereed

David Ball, Sophia A. McClennen, Ariel Dorfman, Gordon O. Taylor. “Forum: Poetry and Torture.” World Literature Today 81, nos. 1-2 (May-August 2005): 6-7.

Interviews

“Ariel Dorfman’s Literary World” World Literature Today 78, nos. 3-4 (September-December 2004): 64-67.

 

 “An Interview with Ariel Dorfman.” Context 15 (2004): 7-8.

 

Bibliography

“Comparative Latin American Culture and Literature.”  Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. Eds. Sophia A. McClennen and Earl E. Fitz. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004: 220-66. Reprint from CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. 4.2 (2002): FTP: http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb02-2/biblio(latinamericas).html

Translations

(With Corey Shouse.) Ortega, Julio. "Towards a Map of the Current Critical Debate about Latin American Cultural Studies." Comparative Cultural Studies and Latin America. Eds. Sophia A. McClennen and Earl E. Fitz. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue UP, 2004: 155-163. Reprint from CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture.4.2 (2002): FTP: http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb02-2/ortega02.html.

Campos, Javier F. "Literature and Globalization." Mediations. 22 (1999): 150-164.

Rotker, Susana. "Nation and Mockery: The Oppositional Writings of Simón Rodríguez." The Places of History: Regionalism Revisited in Latin America. Ed. Doris Sommer. Durham: Duke UP, 1999: 119-133. [reprint of article in MLQ 57:2]

(With Candace Ward.) Fornet, Ambrosio. “Introduction to Bridging Enigma: Cubans on Cuba.” Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 1-15.

(With Alex Martin and Candace Ward.) Hernández, Rafael, "The Paradoxes of Cubanology." Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 143-57.

(With Candace Ward.) Mateo Palmer, Margarita, "Cuban Youth and Postmodernism." Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 159-68.

Montero, Reinaldo, "‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ Cary Says." Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 129-33.

(With Alex Martin.) Resik, Magda, "Writing is a Sort of Shipwreck: An Interview with Senel Paz." Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 83-93.

Vitier, Cintio, "Martí and the Challenge of the 90’s," Special issue on Cuba of South Atlantic Quarterly 96:1 (1997): 213-20.

Rotker, Susana, "Nation and Mockery: The Oppositional Writings of Simón Rodríguez." Special issue of Modern Language Quarterly ed. Doris Sommer 57:2 (1996): 253-267.

Book Reviews

Smith, Jon and Deborah Cohn, Eds. Look Away! The U.S. South in New World Studies in Comparative Literature Studies 44. 1-2. (2007): 186-190.

Amado, Jorge. Tieta and Tent of Miracles in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 24.1 (2004): 133.

 

Lavín, Mónica. Points of Departure: New Stories from Mexico in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 22.1 (2002): 133; review rpt. in Context 10 (2002): 24.

 

Poniatawska, Elena. Here’s to You, Jesusa! in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 22:2 (2001): 157.

 

Arenas, Reinaldo. The Color of Summer, or the New Garden of Earthly Delights in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 22:1 (2001): 186.

García Morales, Adelaida. The South and Bene in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 21:3 (2000) 142-3.

Allende, Isabel. Daughter of Fortune in The Review of Contemporary Fiction. 21:2 (2000): 184-5.

Dorfman, Ariel. The Nanny and the Iceberg in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 21:1 (2000): 182-3.

Goytisolo, Juan. The Marx Family Saga in The Review of Contemporary Fiction 20:3 (1999): 176.

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANT AWARDS, HONORS, AND DISTINCTIONS (selected):

External:

Fulbright Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2005-2006. 

 

Fulbright. Lecturing / Research Award for Lima, Peru. Project: “Screening Struggle: Politics and Gender in Latin American Cinema.” University Affiliation at La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú, Spring 2003 (March-June).

 

Harvard University, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Library Scholars Summer Grant, “Screening Struggle: Politics and Gender in Latin American Cinema,” 2001.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Dissertation Grant, “Out of Bounds: The Crisis of Cultural Identity in Contemporary Hispanic Exile Literature,” 1994-95.

The Tinker Foundation, Field Research Grant for Chile, "Writing to Recuperate: The Notion of Self in the Hispanic Novel of Exile," Summer 1992.

Internal:

At Pennsylvania State University:

Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Individual Faculty Grant, Summer 2004.

Erasmus Award for inspiring new majors, Department of Comparative Literature, Spring 2004

At Illinois State University:

Service Initiative Award in Recognition of Excellence in University Service, 2001.

Faculty Mentor Appreciation Award in recognition of valuable contributions to ISU students during 2000-2001.

University Teaching Initiative Award in Recognition of Excellence in Teaching, 2000.

"Spanish Culture on the Web", Extended University Grant, Summer 1999 for the design of a graduate level Internet course in collaboration with Barbara E. Kurtz.

Academic Events Organized (previous five years)

Session Organizer. “Re-Thinking Inter-American Studies” (a series of three panels). International American Studies Association. Toronto, Canada, August 2005.

Seminar Organizer and Panel Chair. “The Politics of Culture Markets.” Imperialisms: Temporal, Spatial, Formal. American Comparative Literature Association. Pennsylvania State University, March 2005.

Conference Planning Committee. Imperialisms: Temporal, Spatial, Formal. American Comparative Literature Association. Pennsylvania State University, March 2005.

Invited Lectures (previous five years)

“The Global Phenomenon of the ‘Three Amigos’” (on the Oscar nominations of three Mexican directors in 2007), Indiana University, April 2008 (to be delivered).

"Reframing Globalization and Resistance: The Rise of the 'Three Amigos' and the Demise of the Mexican Film Industry" Department of Communications, Northeastern University, February 6, 2008.

“Truth and Testimonial and Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden” Emory University, April 19, 2007.

“Cultural Studies and ‘Latin America,’” Cultural Studies: The Way Ahead, Forum held at George Mason University, August 12, 2007.

“Globalization and Resistance in Latin American Cinema: A Comparison of the 60s and the 90s,” Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Michigan State University, March 22, 2007.

“Globalization and Resistance in Latin American Cinema” Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University at Albany, January 25, 2007.

“Sexo, chocolate, y la estética neoliberal: Vendiendo la imagen de México en los EEUU” Instituto Cultural de Baja California, Tijuana, Mexico, October 17, 2006.

“Globalización y resistencia en el cine latinoamericano: Una comparación entre los 60 y los 90” Escuela Superior de las Artes, Tijuana, Mexico, October 16, 2006.

“Globalization and Cultural Diversity” 2nd Annual Canada-U.S. Exchange Alumni Conference, Toronto, Ontario March 3-4, 2006.

“The Dialectics of Exile: The Crisis of Cultural Identity after 1960” Department of Comparative Literature, University of Montreal, February 24, 2006.

“Inter-American Studies or Imperial American Studies” Department of Spanish, Dalhousie University, February 16, 2006.

 “Is Ariel Dorfman a Latino: Latino Studies and Alterlatino Interventions” Department of Spanish, Dalhousie University, January 31, 2006.

 “Collective Filmmaking in Latin America: A Comparison of Grupo Chaski and Grupo Ukamau,” Department of Communication Studies, McMaster University, May 16, 2005.

“Dis/Remembering the Nation: Exilic Perspectives on Alien Nations,” Seminar on Transatlantic Studies. Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Western Ontario, February 2005.

“Ariel Dorfman’s Self-Construction,” Common Text Lecture, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, MN, October 19, 2004.

“Presentation of The Dialectics of Exile,” Session on New Books. Biannual Conference on Transatlantic Studies, Brown University, April 15-18, Providence, RI, 2004.

“Los estudios interamericanos: Proposiciones, problemas, posibilidades,” Humanities Department,  Pontificia Universidad Católica, Lima, Peru, May 15, 2003.

 “La crítica feminista y la literatura latinoamericana,” Department of Literature, Universidad Católica Sedes Sapentiae, Lima, Peru, May 5, 2003.

"The Dialectics of Exile Writing: The Crisis of Representing Cultural Identity in Hispanic Literatures," Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago, January 31, 2003.

“Visions of American Excess,” in Djelal Kadir’s graduate seminar on “Worlding America,” Department of Comparative Literature, The Pennsylvania State University, December 2, 2002.

"The Dialectics of Exile Writing: The Crisis of Representing Cultural Identity after 1960," Department of Comparative Literature, The Pennsylvania State University, November 11, 2002.

“The New Latin American Cinema in Cuba,” Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Washington University, April 4, 2002.

“Alien Nation: Exile Literature and Nationalism,” Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Washington University, February 6, 2002.

Conference Papers (previous five years)

“Bait and Switch: Using the Nation to Hide the State” ASA, Philadelphia, PA, October 11-13, 2007.

 “From Violent Acts to Violent Words: The Ethics of Cursing” LASA, Montreal, Canada, September 5-8, 2007.

 “Reframing the Question: Area Studies Beyond Ontology.” American Studies Association, Oakland, CA, October 12-15, 2006.

“Is Ariel Dorfman a Latino? Latino Ontology and Alterlatino Ethics” Biannual Conference on Transatlantic Studies, Brown University, April 15-18, Providence, RI, 2006.

“The Humanities and Human Rights Culture: The Comparative Imperative” Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, Princeton, NJ March 24, 2006.

 

“Academic Work and the New McCarthyism” Modern Language Association, December 27-30, Washington, DC 2005.

 

“Is Ariel Dorfman a Latino?: The Place of Alterlatinos in Latino Studies” 20th Century Latin American Literature Panel at the Modern Language Association, December 27-30, Philadelphia, PA 2004.

 

“E Pluribus Unum/Ex Uno Plura: Title VI, Area Studies, and the Problem of America” American Studies Association, Atlanta, GA, November 11-14, 2004.

 “The Theory and Practice of Collective Filmmaking: A Comparison of Grupo Ukamau and Grupo Chaski” Latin American Studies Association Conference, October 7-9, Las Vegas, NV, 2004.

“Inter-American Studies or Imperial American Studies?” Biannual Conference on Transatlantic Studies, Brown University, April 15-18, Providence, RI, 2004.

 “Beyond Bicultural: The Diasporic Subject in Ariel Dorfman’s Heading South, Looking North” MELUS March 15-18, San Antonio, TX, 2004.

“Inter-American Studies: Latin Americanism's Imperial Threat?” 20th Century Latin American Literature Panel at the Modern Language Association, December 27-30, San Diego, CA 2003.

“Los estudios interamericanos: Proposiciones, problemas, posibilidades” ICLA conference on “Discursos y espacios en la literatura latinoamericana” Lima, Peru, May 2, 2003.

 

Teaching Record:

At Pennsylvania State University:

In Comparative Literature:

Undergraduate:

Graduate:

In Spanish:

At La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú (graduate):

·         Spanish American Women’s Literature

At Illinois State University:

Undergraduate:

Cross-Listed in Women’s Studies and taught in English:

Independent Study:

Graduate:

In Women’s Studies:

Independent Study:

At Duke (all undergraduate)

At La Universidad de Santiago (undergraduate)

SERVICE and Other Relevant Activities (Selected):

To the Profession:

Evaluator for Fulbright/CIES Senior Scholar Awards in Mexico and the Andean Region, 2006-

Member of the Delegate Assembly of the Modern Language Association, 2003-2005

Publishing Related:

Editorial Board Voces del Caribe 2007-

Advisory Board, Cultural Logic, 2007-

Editorial Board, Comparative Literature Studies, 2004-

Editorial Board, A contracorriente, 2003-

Advisory Board / Associate Editor, CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture, 2000-

Editorial Collective Mediations, 1999-2003.

Reviewer for various presses and journals.

Pennsylvania State University:

Director of the Graduate Program in Comparative Literature (Co-Director Fall 2003-2005) 2006-

Committees

Promotion and Tenure Committee, Fall 2004-

College Climate Committee Spring 2005-2006

AD-14 Committee (Head evaluation), Spring 2004

Awards Committee, Fall 2003-

Strategic Planning Committee, Fall 2003-Spring 2004.