University College Cork

I work as Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Director of the Centre for Mexican Studies, based in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. I re-joined UCC in 2023 after working as Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin, where I coordinated and co-designed the MPhil, Diploma and Certificate in Applied Intercultural Communications. Previously, I carried out interdisciplinary research at the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine Research and Innovation (MaREI), coordinated by the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at UCC between 2019 and 2021, and taught at the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies from 2015 to 2019. I grew up in Havana, where I studied journalism before obtaining a BA in Cultural Communication / Journalism and an MA in Communication and Cultural Studies at Universitat de Girona. I completed a PhD in Hispanic Studies at UCC in 2018.

I am working on my second monographic book, which focuses on developing the concept of "hurricane culture", and is under contract with University of Toronto Press. My first academic book, titled Essays on Transculturation and Catalan-Cuban Intellectual History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), revisited Fernando Ortiz’s concept of transculturation to interrogate nationalisms through archival documents, as well as journalistic and literary texts published by the Centre Català de l'Havana and the Catalan-Mexican publisher Xaloc. I have published peer-reviewed articles, encyclopedia entries, newspaper articles and poems. The research interests reflected in my publications include the role of subaltern epistemologies and the arts in communicating climate change, supporting climate justice, and shaping responses to environmental challenges; children’s and women’s environmental stewardship; as well as the role of co-creation and participation in inclusive policymaking. I co-edited the open-access interdisciplinary volume titled Creating Resilient Futures: Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction, Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Adaptation Agendas (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). My book of eco-poetry Fósiles de lluvia [Fossil Rain] (Betania, 2022) was published through a Trinity Association & Trust Grant, and my second poetry collection, De corales [Made of Corals], is awaiting publication.

I work at the intersection between Cultural Studies, Communication, the Environmental Humanities and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, in relation to European and African cultures. Mexico, Cuba and Catalonia, among other Latin American and Iberian territories and their diasporas, feature prominently in my research. I draw upon both my experience as a journalist in radio, TV and printed press, and my expertise in cultural and media theories to produce research outputs that explore how socio-ecological processes are constructed by and represented across a range of media, including written, visual, audio-visual, and performative forms of communication. My multimodal-communication training and transmedia approach are reflected in my specific research experience and interests, which include although are not limited to: Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian literatures and cultures; creative responses to intertwined forms of gender-based, racist and environmental violence; creative writing and translation as scholarship; eco-poetry; eco-feminist knowledge-making; multidisciplinary art activism; subaltern epistemologies; decolonising climate empowerment initiatives; and inclusive co-creation.

Both my teaching experience and research activity, in Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and Universitat de Girona, have prepared me to identify topics, perspectives and methodologies to successfully communicate with undergraduates, postgraduates and Adult Continuing Education (ACE) students. My experience as Programme Coordinator for the new Trinity Master, Diploma and Certificate in Applied Intercultural Communications allowed me to further develop my experience in writing programme and syllabus proposals, while carrying out core administrative activities enabling teaching and learning. I have designed, coordinated, and delivered a wide range of modules in the fields of Hispanic Studies, Intercultural Communication, and the Environmental Humanities. I invite students to consider sociohistorical relations and wider cultural transfers between communities that shape cultures, institutions, and policies. Student feedback has shown that, in general, they appreciated my intercultural and interdisciplinary experience, my focus on subaltern communities and people (migrants, Afro-descendants, Indigenous people, women and children), and my willingness to adapt the topics discussed in class to their interests whenever possible. Due to my work with researchers from diverse disciplines, industry partners and policymakers, I am interested in designing and delivering teaching that is aligned with the increasing demand for intercultural, transmedia, and interdisciplinary skills for ethical and inclusive socio-ecological innovations. 

● UG HS1030: Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Studies (team-taught module)

● UG HS2046 US Latino Literatures

● UG HS3054 Gender, Violence and Power in the US Border

● PG HS5021 Understanding Lain America: Texts and Contexts

● UG LL3102: European Cultural Identities II (team-taught module)  

Teaching experience

Postgraduate (PG)

● PG ICP11001-202223: Introduction to Intercultural Communication

● PG ICP11011-202223: Communicating in A Culturally Diverse Workplace: A Practical Toolkit

● PG ICP11031-202223: Language, Culture and Communication

● PG IC11042-202223: Multimodal Communication

● PG ICP11051-202223: Research Methods and Design (Online) 

Undergraduate (UG)

● UG SPU22102 Hispanic Texts II (Team-Taught Module) Adult Continuing Education/Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

● CPD in Intercultural Communication for the Global Workplace (Online)

● UG HS1030: Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Studies (team-taught module)

● UG HS3023: Catalan Cultural Studies

● UG HS2014: Understanding Latin America

● UG HS2008: Business, Culture and Society in the Hispanic and Lusophone Worlds (team-taught module)

● UG LL3102: European Cultural Identities II (team-taught module)

● UG HS6017: Intensive Catalan Language and Culture (MA module)

● UG HS1101, HS1102, HS2102: Spanish Language

● UG HS2022, HS2023, HS3022, HS3123: Catalan Language