Recent Activities for Maria Van Liew
Teaching
As a teacher I strive towards diverse approaches to common themes that highlight
the human condition as expressed through literature, film and other forms of cultural
production. By integrating factors such as geography, daily life, guest speakers from the
Hispanic community, as well as travel and study abroad, students soon learn to adapt
their critical thinking skills to areas beyond their local horizon.
My areas of specialization are Spanish/Peninsular culture, language and film,
which I teach in Spanish for the majors and minors (SPA315, 320, 330, 415, etc.) as
well as culture cluster courses (ESP305 & 319) that allow a wider audience to engage
with the topics. I also teach the introduction to Women’s Studies course (WOS225)
when my schedule allows.
Teaching, travel and advising are inseparable components of a healthy approach
to language and cultural study. I interact with students in the classroom, during
office hours, and on study abroad trips to Spain, Mexico, and Morocco. The most
recent adventure with students entailed a 17 day trip during 2012 Intersession to
Spain, Morocco and Gibraltar in search of “Islamic Spain.” We will be repeating this
trip in 2012! It was a great success (see p. 2), and some students followed up with
coursework and received credit for the experience.
Excursions to NYC and Philadelphia are also common occurrences, as well as
collaborations with U.S. and Mexican faculty as we see here in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Scholarly Activity
My scholarly training in cultural studies prompts me to focus my research and
teaching methods on the particular conditions of intellectual, political, social and
historical contexts of cultural production concerning Spain, Latin America and, by
association, the United States. The historical interconnectedness among these
cultural spheres of political interaction and social practices concerning areas of
study such as gender, nationalism, film and literature prompts me to think
beyond traditional canonical and disciplinary boundaries.
I generally embark on a method of collaborative scholarship that has allowed
me to branch out beyond the parameters of Spanish Cinema Studies. This has
resulted in productive engagement with Genre Studies, Global Immigration
Studies, and Third World Modernity and Modernism within the realm of
Comparative Literature. This has enabled me to pursue fruitful interdisciplinary
relationships that have allowed me to grow as a scholar and teacher. My current
research investigates cinematic representations of the transnational subject in
films about migratory trends and their impact on national identity and behavior.
Spanish Language Book-length Anthology
“La lengua de reciprocidad: La amiga latinoamericana en Princesas” is a chapter in
Migración y cine en el contexto español. Editors: Maria Van Liew (West Chester University);
Mónica Cantero-Espojo (Drew University); José Carlos Suárez (Migration and Cinema
in Spanish Context) which includes 12 chapters, two interviews, and an
introduction by renowned Spanish film scholar, Dr. Marvin D’Lugo, and has been
submitted for publication to the Spanish press Tirant lo Blanch (forthcoming June
2011).
Other Publications in peer-reviewed journals and book-length anthologies
“New Modernity, Trans-national Women, and Spanish Cinema,” Comparative
Literature and Culture 12.2 (2010) Thematic issue New Modernities and the "Third
World. Edited by Valerian DeSousa, Jennifer E. Henton and Geetha Ramanathan
<http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol12/iss2/
“Immigration Films: The Reciprocity of Disruption in Transnational Context,”
Contemporary Spanish Cinema and Genre, eds. Jay Beck and Vicente Rodríguez
Ortega, Manchester University Press, 2008.
“Santos Zunzunegui y el espíritu del cine español” in Historia(s), teorías y cine: 23
entrevistas (centre d’investigacions film-història, Colección historia N. 11), UBe:
Universitat de Barcelona, 2008.
“Witness to War: Virginal Vicissitudes in Vicente Aranda’s Libertarias (1996)”
Quarterly Review of Film and Video; Volume 25 Issue 3, Fall 2008.