Dr Raquel Medina

After working as Assistant Professor (1994-2000) and then Associate Professor of Spanish (2000-2006) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, I joined Aston University as Head of Spanish in 2006. I am the author of Surrealismo en la poesía española de posguerra (Visor, 1997) and co-editor of Sexualidad y escritura (Anthropos, 2002).  I have published on contemporary Spanish poetry, women writers and cultural studies. My current research focuses on the representation of Alzheimer’s disease in Spanish film, fiction and non-fiction narrative, and poetry, and emphasizes how cultural texts have the power of creating, sustaining, and changing meanings of AD.

Qualifications

• PhD in Spanish-University of Southern California (USA)
• MA in Spanish- University of Southern California (USA)
• BA in Spanish Philology-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)

Research Interests

My current research focuses on the (re)presentation of Alzheimer’s disease in Spanish Poetry.  While other research done around the topic of Alzheimer and literature has focused mainly on narratives (pathographies), my point of departure is completely different and innovative: relating the process of Alzheimer in terms of memory and language to the essential nature of poetry and its language in terms of signifier /signified, breakdown of syntax (temporality and linearity), etc.

• Contemporary Spanish Poetry
• Spanish Cultural Studies
• Spanish Women Writers
• Spanish Film
• Literary theory

Teaching

• Spanish Culture and Society
• Spanish in the World
• Spanish Language
• Hispanic Film 

Honours and Awards

• British Academy Overseas Conference Grant, 2010
• Program of Cultural Cooperation Grant, 2002
• UMASS Faculty Research Grant, 1995
• Del Amo Dissertation Research Grant, 1993-1994
• Del Amo Graduate Teaching Fellowship, 1991-1992
• Outstanding Graduate Student, University of Southern California, 1990

Membership of Professional Organisations

• Member of Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland (AHGBI)
• Officer of the Executive Committee AHGBI, 2010 to present
• Member of Modern Language Association
• Member of WISPS

Selected Publications

Books

Sexualidad y escritura (1850-2000).Raquel Medina and Barbara Zecchi, eds. Barcelona: Anthropos, 2002.

Surrealismo en la poesía española de posguerra (1939-1950): Ory, Cirlot, Labordeta y Cela. Madrid: Visor, 1997.

Reference Books

Spain, Anita Croy, Catherine Barker, Jose Manuel Reyes and Raquel Medina.  National Geographic Society, 2010. (For Gr 5-8 US students)

Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals

Published & Forthcoming

“Donde impere el olvido: Poesía y Alzheimer en Los cuerpos oscuros de Juana Castro.” Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos (Forthcoming 2013)

“Shifting Alzheimer´s Paradigm in Spanish film: ¿Y tú quién eres? and Amanecer de un sueño” Hispanic Research Journal (Forthcoming 2013)

“Immigrant Dislocated Identities: Rachid Nini’s Diario de un ilegal”. Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture (Forthcoming 2012)

“Poesía y mercado cultural: la poesía española y sus antologías Hispanic Review  80.3 (2012)

"Reflexiones sobre la poesía española de las últimas décadas del siglo veinte"  Hofstra Hispanic Review 4.2 (2007): 36-41.

"El reencuentro de la música española con la Latinoamérica poscolonial: el caso Joaquín Sabina."  Castilla  26 (2001): 67-82.

“Exilio interior, exilio poético: Manuel Álvarez Ortega y la escritura del silencio.”  España Contemporánea 2 (2000): 38-59.

“Dulce esclava, dulce histérica: La representación de la mujer en Dulce dueño de Emilia Pardo Bazán. Revista Hispánica Moderna LI (1998): 231-303.

“Poesía española <<fin de siglo>>: La experiencia y otros fantasmas poéticos.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 32 (1998): 597-612.

"'Plástica-poética' o 'poética-plástica': Elaboración metafórica de la conciencia del yo en García Lorca." Anales de la literatura española contemporánea (Fall 1994): 85-111.

"Muérete ¡Y verás!: Propuesta para una comedia romántica." Hispania 75 (1992): 1122-1129.

Chapters in Books

Published & forthcoming

“El surrealismo, el Postismo y la revisión de la neovanguardia. Hacia un esclarecimiento terminológico”  to be published in a volume on Spanish and Latin American Avant-Garde edited by Prof. Eduardo Becerra (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)  (forthcoming 2012)

“Spanish Humor” co-authored with Nina Gerassi-Navarro.  The World History of Comedy Vol 2. (2 Vols) Maurice Charney Ed. NY: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 2005. 560-574.

“El lugar de la poesía escrita por mujeres en el panorama poético-editorial español del nuevo siglo”.  Escritura femenina y fin de siglo.  Eds.  Cruz, Jacqueline & Barbara Zecchi.  Madrid: Icaria, 2004.  219-233.

"Memoria y escritura: construcción de una subjetividad dinámica en Cóncava mujer y Del dolor y las alas, de Juana Castro."  La poesía de Juana Castro.  Ed.  Keefe Ugalde, Sharon.  Madrid: Huerga y Fierro, 2002.  46-51.

 “Introducción” to the collection of essays  Sexualidad y escritura (1850-2000). Barcelona: Anthropos, 2002. 7-29.

"Emancipando miradas: Ernestina Champourcín y la desexualización del sujeto poético en el 27 femenino.” Sexualidad y escritura (1850-2000). Barcelona: Anthropos, 2002.

“Erotismo e imitación-emulación en los cinco sonetos de fray Luis de León”. Fray Luis de León: Historia, Humanismo y Letras. Eds. García de la Concha, Victor & Javier San José Lera. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1996. 683-700.