Pertusa: Research

Research

Inmaculada Pertusa, Associate Professor
Department of Modern Languages, Western Kentucky University

Last Updated January 18, 2006

Scholarly Interests

Instructional Technologies
Distance Learning Education
Study Abroad Education
Contemporary Hispanic Literature, particularly women writers
Cultural and Gender Studies
Hispanic Queer Studies

Research Interest and Projects
My primary research interest is contemporary Hispanic Literature, particularly in the areas of Hispanic women writers and queer studies. During the past years I have participated in different literary meetings, presenting papers and sharing ideas with other colleagues. Along with a number of articles, I have published La salida del armario: Lecturas desde la otra acera. Sylvia Molloy, Cristina Peri Rossi y Esther Tusquets (Llibros del Pexe: Spain, Gijon, 2005). I have also co-edited Tortilleras, a volume on Hispanic and Latina lesbian writers, which includes my essay on two of Carme Riera’s short stories.

I am an active member of the Asociación Internacional de Literatura Femenina Hispánica, serving in 2001 as one of the directors of its annual international conference: “The Cannon Unplugged: Rethinking the Writer, Reader, and Critic in Hispanic Women's Literature.” The XII annual meeting was hosted by the University of Kentucky in September 2001 (http://www.uky.edu/events/alfh2001/). I am also the webmaster of the AILFH's electronic bulletin Grafemas (http://grafemas.org)

An important part of my academic responsibilities is teaching, and I love it! Many of my projects are based on my interest in pedagogy and integrating technology into language instruction. In addition, I have incorporated aspects of study abroad into my research agenda.

Few years ago, in collaboration with Dr. Melissa Stewart, from Western Kentucky University, I designed Pasaporte a España. This website was created to provide an introduction to many practical aspects of the study abroad experience. Through contextualized activities, students can familiarize themselves with daily situations in Spain. The website includes Quicktime movies that offer images of Spain with interactive grammar, culture and vocabulary exercises with simultaneous feedback. Audio files accustom students to peninsular Spanish. This project was presented in a national conference on computer assisted instruction last summer.

I also co-developed the Segovia Virtual Study Abroad Program in cooperation with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) program in Segovia. This projected originated in an effort to address the need to incorporate study abroad into the curriculum and offer an experience of this type to students who may not be able to participate directly in foreign study. The web site included photographs taken by students in Spain every week and journal entries about their experiences, and linked the Segovia program with students in Spanish classes in the United States. It both enhanced the participants’ experience and offered a new dimension to composition classes.

Tuning in to Spanish and Negocios en Español are two instructional websites with cultural video segments and exercises that can develop Spanish listening and reading skills and increase awareness of the Hispanic business world among students of Spanish. As Business Spanish courses become increasingly popular throughout the country, there is a growing need to provide students with adequate and current information about Hispanic cultures beyond the classroom walls. Both Tuning in to Spanish and Negocios en Español can serve as an educational resource designed to provide an introduction to many practical aspects of the Hispanic cultural experience.

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