University of Puerto Rico College of Humanities Department of English
Annual Report 2008-2009
Summary of Outstanding Achievements
The nine most outstanding achievements of the English Department of the College of Humanities for the academic year 2008-2009 were the following:
A proposal to create undergraduate curricular sequences was drafted by the Curriculum Committee, approved at a Department meeting, and submitted to the Curriculum Committee of the College of Humanities (May 2009).
A proposal to create two post-graduate certificate programs in applied Linguistics and Literature was drafted, approved at Graduate Committee and English Department meetings, and submitted to the Curriculum Committee and the Junta Graduada of the College of Humanities (May 2009).
Retired Professor Andrew Hurley received the distinction of Professor Emeritus.
The eleventh "Eastern Caribbean Islands in Between" conference on "Language, Literature, and Culture" took place in Curaçao from November 5-9, 2008. 57 conference papers were given along with special guest lectures from Henri Raoul Moen and Philippe Maurer-Cecchini. 8 of our graduate students presented at this conference.
The 40th anniversary of Lewis C. Richardson Seminar, English Department, College of Humanities, UPR, Río Piedras was celebrated on October 24, 2008.
Monthly poetry reading series (under leadership of Richard Weinraub)- Poetry slams were celebrated on 2/7, 3/6, 4/10, 9/25, 10/23, 11/13, and 3/24. They were all well-attended by enthusiastic participants and spectators.
Seminar Room lectures-46 presentations by visiting speakers and graduate students defending theses have been held since Jan. 2008.
The University awarded 6 M.A. degrees and 10 Ph.D. degrees to students from the English department. Two of the M.A. degrees were in Linguistics and 4 were in Literature; five of the Ph.D. degrees were in Linguistics and five were in Literature.
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Several improvements to security and equipment were made to the physical spaces of the English Department and the instructional facilities. After our robbery in December, security bars were added to all windows. Deadbolt locks were added to all of the doors to professors' offices. The offices doors were repaired and repainted. Moreover, the Lewis Richardson Seminar Room was renovated (new computer, wireless connection, new blinds, photocopier, DVD player, screen, In Focus projector, refurbished door, hall cabinet, trash container, etc.)
Departmental Publications
Tonguas: Bilingual Student Literary And Visual Arts Journal, volume 7 (2008) and volume 8 (2009-in press), edited by Dr. Dannabang Kuwabong, published by the English Department of the College of Humanities.
Sargasso, Editor Prof. Don Walicek and Founding Editor Dr. Lowell Fiet: These issues have come out in print this academic year: 2006-2007, II Re/Visiones de Santiago Apostol (issue editor Lowell Fiet) 2007-2008, I Alternative Identities: Belonging and Resistance (issue editor Don Walicek)
These issues have been produced and edited this academic year and should go the printer in June 2009; they are in the final stages of editing and formatting:
2007-2008, II Urban Art (issue editor Lowell Fiet) 2008-2009, I Language and Gender (issue editor Don Walicek) 2008-2009, II Quisqueya, La Republica Extended (issue editor Maria Cristina Rodriguez)
This year we also published all of the Sargasso interviews on-line. These come from the years 1984-2008 and are available as pdf documents. This is the direct link: http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pubs/sargasso_interviews.htm
English Academic Technology Bulletin #29, Nov. 1, 2008. Available on line at: http://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pubs/ATB.htm (Edited by Alicia Pousada).
Publications by faculty
Books
Dr. Dannabang Kuwabong - Caribbean Blues and Love's Genealogy. Toronto, Ontario: TSAR Publications, 2008.
Dr. Yolanda Rivera - Poemas a Medio Pollito. Argentia: iRojo. 2009.
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Dr. Richard Weinraub - Maravilla Rebanada (Wonder Bread Hill , translated by Elidio La Torre). San Juan: Terranova Editores, 2008. pp. 1-93
Chapbooks
Dr. Richard Weinraub - Heavenly Bodies , Hoboken, New Jersey: Poets Wear Prada, 2008, pp. 1-19.
Books (forthcoming)
Dr. Carmen Haydee Rivera - Border Crossings and Beyond: The Life and Works of Sandra Cisneros . Praeger Press (forthcoming 2009)
Edited Books (forthcoming)
Dr. Mirerza González - Seminario para Maestros: Los Puertorriqueños en Santa Cruz, Islas Vírgenes Americanas: apuntes en torno al lenguaje, cultura e historia de una comunidad diaspórica en el Caribe Anglófono . San Juan: Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, forthcoming June 2009.
Articles in refereed journals
Dr. Mervyn Alleyne - (with Rhoda Arrindell and Micah Corum). Locating St. Martin in Caribbean Sociolinguistics Typology. La Torre XIII, Num. 49-50. 2008. pp. 591-608
Gender in Caribbean Language and Society. La Torre XII, Num. 46. 2007. pp 731-38
Dr. Robert Dupey - "The Socio-pragmatic Functions of Code-switching in Narrative Performance: University of Puerto Rico Bilingual Students." Scholar and Educator - Journal of the Society of Educators and Scholars October 2009. pp.
Dr. Janet MacLennan - MacLennan, J. (2008). 'Do the thing you think you cannot do': The imperative to be an adult learner in order to be a more effective adult educator." Australian Journal of Adult Learning , 48, 385-398.
Dr. Alicia Pousada - Pousada, Alicia. 2008. The mandatory use of English in the Federal Court of Puerto Rico. Centro 20 (2), 136-155. (Journal of Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, CUNY).
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Dr. Yolanda Rivera Castillo- 2009. Subsystem Interface and Tone Typology in Papiamentu. Special volume entitled "Language Change in Creole Languages: Grammatical and Prosodic considerations." Studies in Language, 33:2, 437-458.
Dr. María Cristina Rodríguez - "La búsqueda de la casa perdida en el tiempo y la imaginación: dos novelas de Olga Nolla y Anagilda Garrastegui". Milenio 12 (2008): 64-75.
Dr. María Soledad Rodríguez - "More than One Hundred Years in the Making: From Fuller's Spanish Creole to Jean Rhys's Antoinette." La Torre . Tercera Epoca. XIII. 49-50 (julio-diciembre 2008): 453- 462.
Chapters
Dr. Diane Accaria - "On the Road Again: Re-Imag[in]ing Identity and Nationhood with the Road-Trope-the Case of Miel para Oshún and The Motorcycle Diaries." In Latin American Cinemas: Local Views and Transnational Connections . Ed. Dr. Nayibe Bermúdez Barrios. University of Calgary Press, Canada (forthcoming 2009-10), pp. 188-227.
Dr. Ann Albuyeh - a.) "Wars of Words: Enlisting Colonial Languages in the Fight for Independence in Africa." In Struggle for Representation: Narrating Wars and Peace in Africa , edited by Toyin Falola and Hetty ter Haar, under consideration by University of Rochester Press (forthcoming).
b.) "Alive and Well in the Caribbean: How African Popular Culture is Reflected in Language and Culture in Puerto Rico." In Oral and Written Expressions of African Cultures, edited by Toyin Falola and Fallou Ngom. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2009, 143-163.
c.) "'Africa Speaks in Me': How the Diaspora Shaped the Languages of the Caribbean, Then and Now." In Migrations and Creative Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora, edited by Toyin Falola, Niyi Afolabi and Adérónké Adésolà Adésànyà. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2008, 147-177.
Dr. Loretta Collins - "Journeying Towards Mount Zion: Changing Representations of Womanhood in Popular Music, Performance Poetry, and Novels by Rastafarian Women." In The Globalization of Rastafari . Ed. Ian O'Brian Boxill. Kingston, Jamaica: Arawak Publications, 2009, 141-181.
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Rivera-Castillo, Yolanda y Lucy Pickering. 2008 . "Phonetic Correlates of Tone and Stress in Curaçaoan Papiamentu." In Linguistic Studies in Papiamentu , Ed. by Nicholas Faraclas, Ronnie Severing, and Christa Weijer. Willemstad, Curaçao: Institute for Language Planning of Curaçao.
Dr. María Cristina Rodríguez - "Las dos Mayras [Montero y Santos] y sus geografías caribeñas". La narrativa de Mayra Montero: Hacia una literatura transnacional caribeña . Editores Madeline Cámara y Kevin Raúl Sedeño. Valencia: Aduana Vieja, 2008. 205-226.
Dr. Michael Sharp - a.) "'Lament for the Casualties': the Nigerian War of 1967-1970 and the Poetry of J.P. Clark-Bekederemo" has been accepted for publication in The Struggle for Representation: Wars and Peace in Africa , eds. Toyin Falola and Hetty ter Harr, University of Rochester Press, accepted and forthcoming. b.) "'All a Prisoner's Predicaments': The Enduring Essence of Dennis Brutus' Letters to Martha" in Migrations and Creative Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora eds. Falola, Afolabi, and Adesanya. Carolina Academic Press, Durham: 2009, Chapter 17, 361-376. c.) "Echoes of African Praise Songs in the Early Poetry of Kamau Brathwaite" in Facts, Fiction and Creative African Imaginations, eds. Falola and Gnom. Routledge, London: forthcoming 2009, Chapter 4, pagination unknown.
Dr. Ray "Tony" Slagle " Language can kill: Metaphors and HIV/AIDS in the Puerto Rican Press, 1995-1997." In J. W. Chesebro & M. I. Castro de González (Eds.), Communication studies in Puerto Rico: Studies in Recognition of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Speech Communication Association of Puerto Rico . (Accepted).
Dr. Martiza Stanchich - "'Borinkee' in Hawai'i: Rodney Morales Rides the Diaspora Wave to Trans-Regional Imperial Struggle." in Writing Of(f) the Hyphen: New Critical Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. eds. Carmen H. Rivera, José L. Torres-Padilla. University of Washington Press, 2008. 201-220.
"Insular Interventions: Jesús Colón Unmasks Racial Harmonizing and Populist Uplift: Discourses in Puerto Rico." Literature of Migration from the Islands to the Diaspora: Voces Caribeñas. ed. Vanessa Pérez. New York: Palgrave, Accepted and forthcoming.
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Scholarly Reviews
Dr. Mervyn Alleyne - "The Voice of Bomba in Re/Visions of Santiago Apostol: Art, History, and Cultural Criticism" (ed. Lowell Fiet). Sargasso 2006-07, II. Pp 3 - 18.
Dr. Nalini Natarajan - La encantriz de Florenzia translated by Ruben Rios Avila, Claridad (13-19 Nov 2008): 26.
The First Crossing, Economic and Political Weekly EPW (Dec 2008): 24-25.
Dr. Maritza Stanchich - Review of Just Below South: Intercultural Performance in the Caribbean and the U.S. South, ed. Jessica Adams, Michael P. Bibler and Cécile Accilien, University of Virginia Press, in Sargasso , University of Puerto Rico. Forthcoming.
Editions
Dr. Alicia Pousada - Pousada. A. 2010 (Forthcoming). Guest editor of a special issue of Romanitas dedicated to language preservation, rescue, and revival in communities where a Romance language, dialect, or creole is a factor, either as the linguistic variety in danger or the one which is endangering some other variety. The issue will come out in April 2010 in both a print and online format.
Pousada, Alicia (ed.). 2008. Functions and valorization of language in Puerto Rico. Centro , 20 (2). New York: Center for Puerto Rican Studies.
Encyclopedia Entries
Dr. R. A. Slagle a.) "Bicurious." In Encyclopedia of Identity . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (Accepted and forthcoming).
b.) "Bisexual." In Encyclopedia of Identity . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (Accepted and forthcoming). c.) "Lesbian." In Encyclopedia of Identity . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (Accepted and forthcoming).
d.) "Transgender Identity." In Encyclopedia of Identity . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
e.) "Transsexual." In Encyclopedia of Identity . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 7
Creative publications
Dr. Loretta Collins - "Lizard." Sierrico 15 (January-March 2009).
Dr. María Soledad Rodríguez - "The Bookseller and the Poem" (Poem). Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing 9 (December 2007, pub. 2009): 20-21.
"Too Soon" (Poem). Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing 9 (December 2007, pub. 2009): 37.
Articles in the press
Dr. María Cristina Rodríguez - Film reviews in the weekly newspaper Claridad , suplemento cultural En Rojo:
"Cortos/cortes de verano-Parte 1 (The Visitor y Mamma Mia!)". 31 julio-6 agosto 2008: 25.
"Cortos/cortes de verano-Parte 2 (The Dark Knight y Hancock)". 7-13 agosto 2008: 25.
"Cortos/cortes de verano-Parte 3 (Mongol y The Children of Huang Shi)". 14-20 agosto 2008: 25.
"The X-Files: I Want to Believe: misterio, intriga y una propuesta inteligente". 21-27 agosto 2008:25.
"Cortos/cortes de verano-Parte 4 (The Wackness y Pineapple Express)". 28 agosto-3 sept. 2008: 25.
"En la curva final de 2008-Parte 1 (Elegy y Burn After Reading)". 13-19 nov. 2008: 27.
"En la curva final de 2008-Parte 2 (Pride and Glory, Eagle Eye, Max Payne)". 20-26 nov. 2008: 25.
"En la curva final de 2008-Parte 3 (Ghost Town, The Duchess, Rachel Getting Married, Frozen River)". 27 nov.-3 dic. 2008: 24-25.
"En la curva final de 2008-Parte 4 (The Changeling y Australia)". 11-17 dic. 2008: 25.
"En la curva final de 2008-Parte 5 (Quantum of Solace, Body of Lies, Transporter 3)". 18-24 dic. 2008: 24-25.
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"La historia que no debe olvidarse: The Secret Life of Bees y The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". 1-7 enero 2009: 15.
"Propuestas de vida: Seven Pounds y The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". 15-21 enero 2009: 25.
"En la última curva final de 2008 (RocknRolla, Nothing Like the Holidays, Marley & Me, Slumdog Millionaire)". 5-11 febrero 2009: 25.
"Doubt y The Reader: Intensidad y excelencia". 12-18 febrero 2009: 25.
"Variedad temática con estilos muy particulares: Frost/Nixon y Revolutionary Road". 26 febrero-4 marzo 2009: 27.
"Drama y acción en busca de algo: Unknown Woman, Defiance, The International". 12- 18 marzo 2009: 27.
"La violencia y la ternura: Gran Torino, Taken, He's just Not That Into You". 19-25 marzo 2009: 27.
"Excelentes interpretaciones: Last Chance Harvey y I've Loved You so Long". 26 marzo-1 abril 2009: 27.
"State of Play: la política, la guerra y la avaricia". 7-13 mayo 2009: 21.
Lo radical de Sunshine Cleaning y lo esperado de Ambitious". 21-27 mayo 2009: 21.
Feature articles about film and other themes in the weekly newspaper Claridad , suplemento cultural En Rojo:
"Tristes realidades bien presentadas: Talento de Barrio y Ladrones a domicilio". 4-10 sept. 2008: 24-25.
"Festival des Films du Monde: Con pocas luminarias pero con excelentes filmes". 25 sept.-1 octubre 2008: 26-27.
"Un escogido del cine latinoamericano y alemán en Montréal-Parte 1". 2-8 octubre 2008: 27.
"Un escogido del cine latinoamericano y alemán en Montréal-Parte 2". 16-22 octubre 2008: 27.
"La selección caribeña del 1er Festival de Cine Internacional de San Juan". 23-29 octubre 2008: 27.
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"Penúltimos comentarios del Festival des Films du Monde-2008". 30 oct.-5 nov. 2008: 27.
Comentarios finales del Festival des Films du Monde". 8-12 nov. 2008: 27.
"La Mala: historia y canciones de pasiones y conflictos sin resolver". 4-10 dic. 2008: 25.
"De cerca y muy personal: el Che de Benicio del Toro". 22-28 enero 2009: 27.
"Mis 14 minutos con Benicio del Toro". 22-28 enero 2009: 16 y 29.
"Resumen y comentarios de los premios y nominaciones de 2009". 19-25 febrero 2009: 25.
Students
During the first semester of 2008-09, 10 students were working on master's theses. During the second semester, 12 students were working on master's theses.
During the first semester 24 PhD students were working on dissertations. In the second semester 22 PhD students were working on dissertations.
The University awarded 6 M.A. degrees and ten (10) Ph.D. degrees to students from the English Department. Two (2) of the M.A.s were in Linguistics and four (4) were in Literature. Five (5) of the Ph.D.'s were in Linguistics and five (5) in Literature. The Ph.D. dissertation titles are listed below:
1.) Steven Beauclair, Hauntings of Haitian History: Marking Political Terror in the Writings of Edwidge Danticat
2.) David Lizardi Sierra, Jean, Dinah, Dorothy & the Rest: Representations of Women in Calypso & Literary Works of the Caribbean
3.) Edward Mitchell, St. Lucian Kwéyòl in St. Croix: A Study of Language Choice and Attitudes
4.) Pedro Perez, Caribbean Worldliness: The Search for a Globalized Poetics in the Poetry of Lorna Goodison and Victor Hernández Cruz
5.) Miriam Plata Monllor, Phonological Features of Crucian Creole
6.) Nereida Prado Rodriguez, African Caribbean Spirituality in West Indian Novels: From Realism to Spiritual Realism
7.) Dorsia Smith, A Dark Vision of "A Third World's Third World": V.S. Naipaul's Africa 10
8.) Geissa Torres Santiago, Attitudes of Crucian Students and Educators Toward Crucian Creole as a Language of Learning
9.) Orville Villanueva Feliciano, A Contrastive Analysis of English Influences on the Lexicon of Puerto Rican Spanish in Puerto Rico and St. Croix
10.) Don Walicek, Pathways of Language and Memory: The Origins of Anguillian in Sociohistorical Context
Student achievements
Doctoral program graduate Suzanna Engman is scheduled to receive the Joan M. Fayer Award.
????? will receive the Humanities College medal for the most distinguished student of the English Department Doctoral Program (2009).
Daniel Nevarez Araujo will receive the Thomas Sullivan Award, given to M.A. graduates with both a 4.0 and grade of PS on the thesis. He will also receive the Humanities College medal for the most distinguished student of the English Department MA. Program.
Undergraduate student Saadi L. Rosado, grade point average 3.947 (114 credits approved, English-Literature) and undergraduate student Marinelly Freire Rabell, grade point average 3.916 (122 credits approved, English-Literature) will both receive the Margaret Nance Award.
Eastern Caribbean Conference
The Doctoral Program co-hosted the eleventh "Eastern Caribbean Islands in Between" conference on "Language, Literature, and Culture," which took place in Curacao from November 5-9, 2008.
57 conference papers were given along with a special guest lectures from Henri Raoul Moen and Philippe Maurer-Cecchini
8 of our graduate students presented at this conference.
Guest speakers.
Guest speakers invited by the Doctoral Program: 1.) In the first semester of 2008-09, Professor Sylvia Kouwenberg visited from October 2-4, giving lectures on "Theory of Creole Genesis: Where are we now?" and "The Morphology & Syntax of Reduplication, as well as a workshop on "The Instrumentalization of Creole Languages (with special reference to Jamaican)." 11
2.) In the second semester, we had three visiting speakers. Professor Shelome Gooden visited from February 19-21. She spoke on "Intonation in Jamaican Creole" and "Intonation and Prosody in Afro-Caribbean Varieties," and provided a mini-course on "Speech Analysis."
3.) She was followed by Kirin Narayan from March 20-21. Professor Narayan lectured on "Twin Muses: Ethnography and Fiction" and offered an Ethnographic Writing Workshop.
4.) Lastly, Marie-Elena John visited from April 24-25. She spoke on "A Caribbean Writer's Diasporic Journey: From Antigua to the United States to West Africa, and Back Again" and offered a Creative Writing Workshop.
External Funds
Dr. Miereza Gonzalez -
Co-author of proposal for "Seminario para Maestro: La migración Puertorriqueña en Santa Cruz, USVI: miradas interdisciplinarias (approved June 1, 2008) $11,000. Celebrated October 16, 2008 Description: Taller de dos días en para maestros de inglés, español e historia que enseñan en escuela pública donde conocerán y explorarán las historias de migraciones de Puertorriqueños a la isla de St. Cruz, USVI con el objetivo de que utilizen estas experiencias como contenido en sus cursos. El taller proveerá materiales y presentará una unidad temática sobre el tema para de esta manera exponer a sus estudiantes a experiencias no tradicionales o poco estudiadas sobre comunidades diaspóricas puertorriqueñas y el Caribe Anglófono. e.CUNY: (submitted for funding) Title: Barrio Machuchal and Puerto Ricans in St. Croix, USVI Description: This research project will collects life stories of Puerto Rican who have lived or are currently living in Barrio Machuchal, St. Croix, USVI. These stories will be presented as a cultural map to the stories of this Puerto Rican diasporic community as a web page of Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños web site. (waiting for approval).
Plans for next year
The Department will: seek permission to fill four vacant plazas and re-evaluate the faculty recruitment needs for the other vacant plazas; seek approval at the College level and the level of the Academic Senate for our proposal to create a post-B.A. certificate program for public school teachers of English; 12
seek approval of the proposal for undergraduate curricular sequences; the proposal has been submitted to the Curriculum Committee of the College of Humanities. continue to propose new interdisciplinary courses that will fulfill the general education requirement in literature and also meet the needs of the various other colleges on campus; devise promotion and student recruitment strategies for the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs; add new features to our web page; promote our course offerings to other colleges on campus; further improve the physical spaces; attempt to address the departmental technology needs by asking for the replacement of the computer for the student advisor (which was stolen during the December robbery) and seeking the means of providing computers to the tenured professors who do not have them and the recently hired professors. organize the annual "Islands-in-Between" conference, which is scheduled to take place in November of 2008 on the island of Dominica. Preparations are underway.