Corinne Pubill – Assistant Professor of Spanish

"Very special day with family"

Assistant Professor
Holloway Hall 385
cxpubill@salisbury.edu
(410) 677-0152

Education:

Previous Positions:

Spanish Lecturer, Marillac, Perpignan, France (2005-2007)

French Lecturer, University of Perpignan, France (2005-2007)

Spanish Associate Instructor, University of California, Davis (1998-2004)

Spanish Reader, University of California, Davis (winter 2002)

Spanish Research Assistant, University of California, Davis (2001-2002)

Spanish Teaching Assistant, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1997-1998)

Spanish Instructor, Colorado College, Colorado Springs (1995-1996)

French Instructor, Colorado College, Colorado Springs (1995-1996)

French Lecturer, Summer University of Perpignan, France (1993- 1995)

Areas of Specialization:

Both of my parents fled the Spanish Civil war and settled in Perpignan, France.  Perpignan is 20 minutes away from Spain, just on the Mediterranean sea, and within two hours of Barcelona, Montpellier, and Toulouse. I have always been interested in the theme of exile among immigrants from Spain who escaped to France and Latin America during the Franco Dictatorship. For this specific reason, I felt attracted to pursue my career in Spanish Literature and Civilization and tried to understand this complicated process of uprooting and integration into a new environment. Later, I became fascinated by Latin America, especially by the « Cono Sur » countries, and so I pursued my career as a Latin American specialist.

Part of my research focuses on the narratives, which are cultural products of dictatorial regimes in twentieth century Latin America, of the Argentinean writer Marta Lynch. I first historicized Marta Lynch’s novels in the broader context of twentieth century Latin American Literature, comparing her work with other writers of her time. I suggest that her work represents the fluctuating contradiction of ideology that marks Argentinean history. My dissertation focuses on her texts from a critical standpoint represented by theorists such as Georg Lukács, Michel Foucault, Jessica Benjamin, Sylvia Molloy, Ricardo Piglia, and others. These readings allowed me to define how different discourses of power invade Lynch’s novels and generate narrative modifications depending on the ideological moments they represent. I argue that it is in the nexus between politics and fiction, and between form and content, where we can find the best contribution of her writing, since it allows us to understand the present and even the future of this southern nation. Finally, I concluded that the structures of her texts create a tension that determines the ideological configuration, since it deforms the perception of what is narrated. In this way, the form reflects the social plot since the fictionalization of events rewrite the real history of Argentina and reveals a new reading of the complex fluctuation of the Argentinean coyuntura on the 1970s and 80s.

In the future, I plan to continue examining literature which is linked to dictatorial regimes. In this sense, I will also connect this research on the Argentinean Dictatorship with Trans-Atlantic issues and I will explore the similarities that it shares with the Franco Dictatorship in Spain. Coming myself from parents who survived the oppressive regime of Franco, I aspire to understand how some writers, by supporting and collaborating with the political ideas of men in power, still are able to critique such regimes in their narratives. From a historical point of view, women's writing contains a wealth of new information about social and political networks which often illuminate an entirely different dialectic of resistance and survival. These elements will help me to analyze the notion of impunity that surrounds countries like Argentina or Spain, where the debate is still under silence. Through this work, I wish to discover unknown writers that would allow us to recognize a new side of history that was concealed and forgotten for so many years.

After studying at UC Davis for many years, I decided to return to Europe to gain additional professional experience and to finish my dissertation prior to applying for a position in the United States. Along with teaching French as a Foreign Language at the University of Perpignan, I was also currently working at a private College called Marillac. At this College, I taught Spanish literary and media classes, using materials such as printed articles and cinema as tools for examining political and cultural developments in Spain and Latin America. I was preparing students to complete a B.A (Brevet Technique d’ Enseignement Supérieur) for their final Spanish examination. This was a class that I designed myself according to the themes required by the French Ministry of Education. The experience I have gained In the United States and in Europe has given me the opportunity to improve my teaching methodology and better track the progress of students. I believe students learn faster when they use authentic materials that take into account the reality of what is happening in the country, in a cultural and political sense, such as media, films, popular debates, etc. That way they learn how to interact with Spanish speakers and to understand the many different and concrete codes of communication.

Hope to see you very soon in my Spanish and French classes!

SU Courses (Fall 2007):

FREN 202 : Advanced conversation

SPAN 312:  Conversation

Courses on MyClasses