Kicks Off Hispanic Heritage Month, November 2nd

A Mexican Altar de los Muertos was created by Modern Languages Department Professors Paquita Suárez-Coalla and Alicia Perdomo and is currently on display in the MLD office, Room S601.

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Exciting news! We have a NEW MAJOR in Modern Languages with specializations in French, Spanish and Italian.

BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES FALL 2015 NEWSLETTER

MLD Faculty Publications

Professor Margaret Carson’s translation of the essay “There Are No Recipes for the Foods of the Future” by the Cuban writer Antonio José Ponte appeared in e-misférica 12.1, Spring 2015 http://www.hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/emisferica-121-caribbean-rasanblaj/ponte Her translation of the essay “Simple Language, Name” by Sergio Chejfec was published in the Summer 2015 issue of Asymptote Journal http://www.asymptotejournal.com/nonfiction/sergio-chejfec-simple-language-name/

Professor Ángeles Donoso Macaya published “Variations of ‘Frida’: Graciela Iturbide, Mario Bellatin, and La Chica Boom” in Technology, Literature, and Digital Culture in Latin America: Mediatized Sensibilities in a Globalized Era. Eds. Matthew Bush and Tania Gentic (London: Routledge, 2016) and “Re-pensar la memoria fotográfica. Desplazamientos e irrupciones del retrato fotográfico durante la dictadura militar en Chile” in Des/Memorias Hemisféricas, Eds. Adriana López Labourdette, Silvia Spitta, and Valeria Wagner (Barcelona: Linkgua Ediciones, 2015). She also published two essays: “Chile desde adentro. Notas sobre fotografía, memoria e historia” in Atlas Imaginarios Visuales: Revista de Fotografía e Imagen www.atlasiv.cl/post/chile-desde-adentro-notas-sobre-fotografia; and “The Eloquent T-Shirt,” an invited contribution for the Collaborative Project In the Dark Room: Cold War Visual Legacies in the Americas, coordinated by Professors Thy Phu and Andrea Noble http://inthedarkroom.org/projects/cold-war-visual-legacies#post-the-eloquent-t-shirt

Professor Sophie Marínez’s article “Alegorías de una hermandad atormentada: construcciones alternas de Haití en la literatura dominicana contemporánea” is forthcoming in "Quisqueya is my lakay": Challenging de-nationalization, waving the national identity, Special Issue on the Haitian-Dominican Conflict.  Memorias. Revista Digital de Historia y Arqueología desde el Caribe (February 2016) and “Mito y feminismo en Marassá y la Nada de Alanna Lockward” has been accepted by Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos and will be published in 2016. In addition, she was invited to contribute the chapter titled “The Quisqueya Diaspora: The Emergence of Latina/o Literature from Hispaniola” for the The Cambridge History of Latina/o Literature, slated for publication in 2017. Her translation into French of the poem “La Marilyn Monroe de Santo Domingo” by acclaimed Dominican poet Frank Baez was published in K1N, a

peer-review journal in literary translation at the University of Ottawa www.k1nlitra.ca/k1n/article.php?i=MTI0&i2=MTI

Professor Alister Ramírez Márquez published a new book of short stories entitled Los vendedores: cuentos de reportero (Ala de Mosca Press). Los vendedores is narrated by a correspondent who is employed by a French news agency in Paris, and interviews salespeople all over the world. Some of the stories are based on real interviews, the daily news from newspapers, internet, tweets and other social media. The line between reality and fiction becomes blurry, and the reader learns that unexpected events might take place at any time. It is a compelling combination of two talents: the

ability to sell and the skill of relating the experiences. The book is sold on www.amazon.com.

Professor Marilyn Rivera published the article “A propósito de la Nación y Julia de Burgos” in El Post Antillano 18 Jul 2015. Her book chapter contribution, “El patriarcado y la figura del padre en los cuentos de Luis Negrón y Ricardo Santana Ortiz” is forthcoming in the book entitled El género en la producción cultural latinoamericana y del Caribe, edited by the Grupo de Investigación Literaria del Caribe (GILKARÍ) of Universidad del Atlántico in Barranquilla, Colombia. Rivera presented her book Masculinidades y transgresiones en la obra de Mayra Santos Febres at the 9th Annual Hispanic/Latino Book Fair on October 11th in Jackson Heights, Queens. Also, she participated in the Local author night! of La Casa Azul Bookstore on October 17th.

Professor Lisa Sarti's article Authorship and the Profitable Adaptation: How Gennaro Righelli and Vittorio de Sica reworked ‘Il viaggio’ was published in the UK journal Pirandello Studies (35:2015, 75-91)

A review of the book Primera Dios, yo la alivio. Testimonio de las parteras salvadoreñas de Ciudad Barrios (New York: Campana, 2011), co-edited by Professor Paquita Suárez Coalla and Lorenzo Amaya was published at Kóot. Revista de museología 6 Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador (Año 5, sept. 2015): 135-142. The review “El legado de Lorenzo Amaya en Nueva York,” by Carmen Molina Tamaca, was an homage to Lorenzo Amaya who passed away on August 2015. Antón García made a book review about Literatura con acento (New York: Campana, 2014) a compilation of essays by different writers about their own creative process also edited by Professor Suárez Coalla. Her own essay “La carpeta azul”, was also included in the anthology. The review, Ente l’aquí y l’allá appeared in the cultural section of the newspaper La Nueva España.

Professor Kristina Varade published the article “Dressing the ‘Fesipora’: Changes in Irish Dance Costume in the New Millennium” in New Hibernia Review, 19 (no. 3): 58-75 

Professor Alejandro Varderi’s recent publications include De lo sublime a lo grotesco. Kitsch y cultura popular en el mundo hispánico www.devenir.es/index.php/catalogodevenir/devenir-el-otro/2121-de-lo-sublime-a-lo-grotesco; “Ana Rossetti y la otra

España literaria (I-II)” ViceVersa, May 25 and June 8 www.viceversa-mag.com/author/alejandro-varderi/; “Álex de la Iglesia y el otro cine español,” May 2015 www.cinecritic.biz; “Luis Zapata y la normalización de la diferencia (I-II)” ViceVersa, June 22 and July 6; Julio Galán en la frontera de la mexicanidad (I-II)” ViceVersa, July 20 and August 3; “A los sesenta años de Marcelino, pan y vino” ViceVersa, August 17; “Pablo Larraín y su trilogía de la memoria,” August 2015 www.cinecritic.biz; “Nuria Amat en la memoria viajera de Barcelona” ViceVersa, August 31; “La contemporaneidad en conflicto sobre la escena” Artez. Revista de las artes escénicas

N 206 (Sept. Oct. 2015): 96-99; “Paseo” (excerpt from a novel in Spanish), ViceVersa September 27; “Enclave. Desde Nueva York hacia el mundo hispánico,” ViceVersa, October 12; “Temporada para suicidios de Manuel Adrián López,” ViceVersa, October 26; “Narrativa gay venezolana. El otro lugar de la escritura,” ViceVersa, November 9. In June,he published the fourth issue of Enclave (www.enclave.commons.gc.cuny.edu). Enclave is now

accepting collaborations for the fifth issue to be published in 2016.

MLD Faculty Presentations

Professor Margaret Carson was a discussant during the event “José Watanabe’s Antígona” at the CUNY Graduate Center, November 20, 2015. She presented “Literary Awards and Grants for Translation at the PEN American Center’” during the American Literary Translators Association “Translation and Traffic” conference held in Tucson, AZ from October 28- 31, 2015. During the same conference she also co-moderated the panel, “Where Are the Women in Translation?” She also moderated the panel “Women in Translation” during the New Literature from Europe festival, November 8, 2015.

Professor Patrizia Comello Perry co-presented a paper with Prof. Elda Buonanno Foley entitled “Fostering Cultural Diversity in the Global World Though Contemporary Cinema” at the conference New Directions in The Humanities (Vancouver, June 17-19, 2015). She also organized and chaired a session entitled “Teaching Languages and Culture Through Film” at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Conference (PAMLA), held in Portland, Oregon (Nov. 6, 2015).

Thanks to a PSC CUNY Research Award, Professor Peter Consenstein was able to accept an invitation to speak at the conference “Georges Perec: Nouvelles approaches,” held at the Centre Culturel International de Cerisy, in Cerisy, France from July 13-20, 2015. His paper was entitled “L'identité juive de Georges Perec.”   Professor Ángeles Donoso Macaya was invited by The Ph.D. Program in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages, CUNY Graduate Center to give a lecture entitled “Depth of Field: Photographic Practices in Chile, 1973-1998” (November 6). She was also invited to participate in the 3° Coloquio Fotografía y Discursos Disciplinarios. Fotografía contemporánea en Latinoamérica, organized by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Red de Investigación de la Imagen Fotográfica and held in Santiago, Chile, on October 20-21). She presented “Spic Ecdysis (2014) de Xandra Ibarra: mudas de la performance, desplazamientos de la fotografía.” She also presented “Chile from within, 25 years after,” at Translating Memory and Remembrance across the

Disciplines, an Interdisciplinary Conference organized by SUNY New Paltz (October 9-8). During the summer, she participated in the NYU Faculty Resource Network as a Scholar-In-Residence. Professor Sophie Maríñez presented “Seeking my Sibling: Myth and Fraternité in Alanna Lockward’s Marassá y la Nada” at the Haitian Studies Association 27th Annual Conference, held in Montréal, Canada (October 22-24, 2015). She was also invited to read a selection of poems from Sel Noir by Edouard Glissant, at the opening of the conference Salt & Sugar/ Salt or Sugar? organized by the Ph.D. Program in French, The Graduate Center, CUNY (October 29, 2015). As to her own poetry, she was invited to read it at the IX Feria del Libro Dominicano, Gregorio Luperón High School, New York, (September 26, 2015); The Americas Poetry Festival of New York, presented by the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at Center for Worker Education of the City College of New York (October 15-16, 2015); and the Hispanic Heritage Month at BMCC (November 13, 2015). She was a guest panelist in Black Lives Matter: The Haitian-Dominican Human Rights Crisis, a panel organized by the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College (November 18, 2015).

Professor Tom Means spoke at the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) conference in Siena, Italy on June 23, 2015. He gave two talks: as a panelist, “Writing Creative Endings to Movies or Short Stories in Italian;” and, as a founding editor to a new peer-reviewed journal “Teaching Italian Language and Culture Annual (TILCA).” On October 23, 2015, Professor Means spoke at Montclair State University’s Symposium, “Teaching Italian.” He gave two talks: As a panelist, “Students at Play: Transforming Learning in the Italian Curriculum;” as a teacher trainer, “Task-Based Instruction as a Framework for Language Play.”

Professor Kristina Varade was an invited speaker at NYU's Wasserman Center: "Faculty Job Search Panel for Humanities and Social Sciences.” She also co-presented a workshop for BMCC TRAC (Transfer Review and Academic Connection) students: “Mastering Your Application.”

On September 25, Professor Alejandro Varderi presented the book Temporada para suicidios by Cuban writer Manuel Adrián López in Rio III Gallery, Manhattan. On October 24, Professor Varderi was the subject of the interview “America sigue involucionando.” in El Universal newspaper from Caracas

(Venezuela) http://www.eluniversal.com/arte-y-entretenimiento/151024/alejandro-varderi-america-sigue-involucionando

Other Events and Activities by MLD Faculty

Professors Margaret Carson and Ángeles Donoso Macaya co-organized a workshop for students led by Chilean artist Francisca Benítez during Hispanic Heritage Month. The event was entitled “Los idiomas del cuerpo” (Languages of the Body) and took place on November 24.

Professors Patrizia Comello Perry, Tom Means, Lisa Sarti, and Kristina Varade organized the Italian Heritage Month that was held on October 16 in the Richard Harris Terrace.Professors Means and Varade also gave a presentation in CETLS for the faculty book club on Italo Svevo’s “Zeno’s Conscience.”

Professor Ángeles Donoso Macaya used ELIC funds to take her WI SPN 210 class to The New York Botanical Garden to see the exhibition Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life on October 30.

Professors Evelin Gamarra and Marilyn Rivera organized the film screening of El color de la guayaba and a talk with Director Luis Caballero. The activity took place at Richard Harris Terrace on November 17 during the Hispanic Heritage Month at BMCC.

Professor Ainoa Íñigo was the coordinator of the Study Abroad Program in Spain. She took a group of thirteen BMCC students to Oviedo, Asturias from July 4 to August 3. As part of the activities of the Hispanic Heritage Month at BMCC, Professor Íñigo sponsored an event with Mexican artist and journalist Rocío Duque, who presented The Business of Killing, a graphic

novel on feminicide in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The event took place on November 12.

Professor Sophie Maríñez is currently editing the fourth issue of the French student literary magazine Echos du Tout-Monde, dedicated to the role of the French language in our lives. The issue will also include a special section on Paris, in response to the November 13 events.

Professor Nidia Pullés-Linares will use ELIC funds to take her students to see the play “En el tiempo de las mariposas,” based on the homonymous novel by Julia Alvarez, at the Teatro Repertorio Español, on December 6.

Professor Silvia Roig used ELIC funds to take her students on a field trip to the Hispanic Society of America.

At the Centro Español de Manhattan, Professors Paquita Suárez-Coalla and Ainoa Íñigo, Vicepresident and Member of the Latino Artists Round Table (LART) association, co-sponsored the event Recordando a Ana Mendieta en el 30 aniversario de su muerte/ Remembering Ana Mendieta in the 30th Anniversary of her Death an homage to the Cuban American performance artist, sculptor and painter Ana Mendieta who died at the age of 35 on September 1985. This event will be duplicated at BMCC during the spring semester. Professors Suárez-Coalla and Íñigo took 50 students to this conference.

As part of the activities of the Hispanic Heritage Month at BMCC, Professor Suárez-Coalla also coordinated or co-sponsored the following events: for the Opening Ceremony of the Hispanic Heritage Month on Nov. 4, the student’s poetry reading honoring the Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda; on Nov. 9, the event “New York: A Space to Create in Spanish,” a Literary Reading and Discussion with the writers Diana Pennel (New York) and Nadia Villafuerte (Chiapas, México); on Nov. 13, the event “Reading Social Awareness through Poetry” as part of the conference Sustainable Struggles. Five different poets were invited: Carlos Aguasaco (Colombia), Margarita Drago (Argentina), Sophie Maríñez (France-Dominican Republic), Juana Ramos (El Salvador) and the BMCC student Diana Muñoz (México).

The course Creative Writing in Spanish created by Professor Suárez-Coalla and approved by the Curriculum Committee, will be teach for the first time in the Spring Semester of 2016.

Awards and Recognition

Professors Ángeles Donoso Macaya and Kristina Varade were awarded the CUNY Center for the Humanities Williams Stewart Travel Grant.

Professor Sophie Maríñez was accepted in the 2015-2016 CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication Program to work on her book project “The Marassa Dynamics Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic”.

Professor Silvia Roig was the recipient of the Premio de Monografia Victoria Urbano 2015, awarded by the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica.