About
Hola! I am a Professor of Spanish and Global Studies and currently serve as Vice Provost for Global Engagement at Drexel University. I am originally from gorgeous Valencia, Spain. At Drexel, I facilitate and oversee global engagement activities that help our students and faculty, on and off campus, to tackle global issues from a transnational, intercultural, and multidisciplinary perspective. Of course, we also look at the effects of globalization on our local communities here in the U.S., and particularly in the Philadelphia region.
In my research I study the role of classic cultural icons, particularly Don Quixote, in 21st century political and social justice discourse. In my scholarship and pedagogy, I explore the interplay between the traditional humanities, youth organizations, and digital storytelling.
My latest book, Living Quixote: Performative Activism in Contemporary Brazil and the Americas (Vanderbilt UP, 2020), examines appropriations of Don Quixote in community and youth activism in contemporary Brazil and other countries in the Americas, including the U.S. Besides my Spanish-language books, La verosimilitud en el Siglo de Oro: Cervantes y la novela corta (Juan de la Cuesta, 2002) and Monstruos que hablan: El discurso de la monstruosidad en Cervantes (U of North Carolina P, Chapel Hill, 2008), I have published dozens of articles and book chapters and lectured in over 20 countries world-wide.
I enjoy travel, music (particularly piano), good food, the empowering awkwardness of learning languages other than your own, and tennis.