Mauricio Parra
Curriculum Vitae

Degrees

PhD        Hispanic Languages and Literatures.  University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. 1993          

MA           Hispanic Languages and Literatures.  University of California, Santa Barbara. 1986 

BA            Hispanic Languages and Literatures.  University of California, Santa Barbara. 1982 

Fields of Specialization and Research

Latin American Studies (Literary and Cultural Studies). Colombian Literature. Magical Realism. Gabriel Garca Mrquez.

Latin American Film

Latina/o Culture and Film.

University Appointments

2007 - present        Professor. Illinois Wesleyan University. Bloomington.

1999-2006                Associate Professor. Illinois Wesleyan University. Bloomington.

1993-1998                   Assistant Professor. Illinois Wesleyan University. Bloomington.

1990-1993                   Instructor. Illinois Wesleyan University. Bloomington.

1989-1990                   Instructor. Bradley University. Peoria, Illinois.

1988-1989                    Lecturer. University of California, Davis

1986-1987                    Instructor. Santa Barbara City College. California.

1981-1986                    Teaching Assistant. University of California, Santa Barbara

Additional Appointments

2006           Resident Director IWU Madrid Program. Jos Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain. [spring semester].

1996           Resident Director Summer Study Abroad Program. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Program sponsored by University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Illinois; University of Texas).

1994           Co-Director with Carmela Ferradns: Summer Institute for Teachers of Foreign Languages, Illinois Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages. (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale).

1986           Coordinator, Spanish Summer Program. Language Laboratory and Cultural Activities. (University of California Santa Barbara).

Languages

Native Spanish; near native English; reading knowledge and basic conversational Portuguese.

Publications

Editions

Regarding Violence. Spec. issue of Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture 25.3 (2003).

Myths and Legends of Mexico by Luis Leal. Edition and Introduction by Mauricio Parra. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California Center for Chicano Studies, 2002.

The Integration of Language and Culture in the Curriculum. Co-edited with Carmela Ferradns. Springfield: Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1994.

Articles

“Regarding Violence.” Discourse: Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture 25.3 (2003): 3-8.

“La coexistencia de lo irreconciliable: espacios urbanos en la narrativa colombiana contempornea.” Alba de Amrica: Revista Literaria 22.41-42 (2003): 387-99.

“El cuento de nunca acabar: discurso integrador en la obra de Gabriel Garca Mrquez.” El Colombiano USA 2.32-33 (2000): 6-13.

“La importancia para la comunidad de la Universidad Latinoamericana.” El Colombiano USA 2.45 (2000): 14-16.

 “Rewriting the Myths of History: The European Utopia in Gabriel Garca Mrquez’s The General in his Labyrinth.” The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms. CD-ROM. Cambridge: MIT P, 1998.

“La crtica de la razn instrumental en Cien aos de soledad o la posibilidad de excentricidad.” La Torre: Revista de la Universidad de Puerto Rico 2.3 (1997): 73-85.

 “En nombre de Bolvar: Garca Mrquez y la proyeccin de la utopa en Latinoamrica.” Orbis Tertius: Revista de Teora y Crtica Literaria 2 (1996): 39-49.

“Dos poetas frente a un mismo smbolo: Federico Garca Lorca y Jorge Luis Borges.” Romance Languages Annual 8 (1996): 633-37.

“Inversin de las polaridades, integracin de las disyuntivas en el discurso en Cien aos de Soledad.” Lecturas y relecturas de textos espaoles, latinoamericanos y U.S. Latinos. Ed. Juan Villegas. Irvine: U of California P, 1994. 347-54.

“E.T. no era UN extranjero: funcin de los materiales culturales en el currculum comunicativo.” The Integration of Language and Culture in the Curriculum. Ed. Mauricio Parra and Carmela Ferradns. Springfield: Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1994. 4-8.

“’El Apellido’ de Nicols Guilln: una aplicacin prctica del Natural Approach a la enseanza de la cultura.” The Integration of Language and Culture in the Curriculum. Ed. Mauricio Parra and Carmela Ferradns. Springfield: Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1994. 12-18.

“Gente, costumbres e instituciones en Amrica Latina: el caso de Argentina.” The Integration of Language and Culture in the Curriculum. Ed. Mauricio Parra and Carmela Ferradns. Springfield: Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1994. 23-27.

“Alienacin y marginalidad discursiva en la Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espaa.” Romance Languages Annual 3 (1991): 550-53.

Review-Article:

“The Edges of Latin American Postmodernism: A Review of the Postmodernism Debate in Latin America.” Rev. of the Postmodernism Debate in Latin America, ed. John Beverley, Michael Aronna and J.M. Oviedo. Discourse: Journal for the Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture 21.2 (1999): 182-88.

 Translations:

“De Samamb a la ‘Comuna de Chalaco’: La multivocalidad de montoneros piuranos durante el tardo siglo XIX.” By Nils Jacobsen and Alejandro Diez Hurtado. Revista Andina 37 (2003): 137-80.

Video Production:

Dreams of Faith and Wonders: The Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela. Bloomington: Illinois Wesleyan University, 1995. [20 minutes].

Work in Progress

Books:

Chief-Editor of Special Edition of the Journal El Buho y El Cuervo (The Owl and The Raven): Creating Communities in Exile: Poetry and Life" (in progress).

Beyond Macondo: Narratives of Displacement in the New Colombian Fiction" (in progress).

Professional Activities

International:

2001                         Co-organizer (with Michael Palencia -Roth): “International Association of Colombianists” (12th Conference). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1999                        Co-organizer (with Rolando Romero, Idelber Avelar and Elena Delgado): “International Conference on Cultural Studies and Disciplinary Boundaries in Latin/o America.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1985-86                  Co-organizer of “First and Second Annual Colloquia on Mexican Literature."  University of California, Santa Barbara.

National and Local

2002                         Co-organizer with Christina Isabelli: IWU Humanities Series, “Gabriel Garca Mrquez”, lecture by Michael Palencia-Roth. Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington.

1994                       Co-organizer with Kathleen O’Gorman: Carlos Fuentes’ visit to campus, “A Writer Looks Towards the Twenty-First Century.” Office of the President. Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington.

Publishing/Editing Experience

1982-84                  Newsletter Director. Encuentro, Educational Opportunity Program. University of California, Santa Barbara.

1982-87                  Co-Editor. Tinta, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Literary Magazine. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Other Professional Activities

1978-82                  Chronicle Publications. Owner, Publisher and Editor. Santa Barbara Chronicles. Bilingual newspaper magazine: News, articles and information on contemporary literature and art. Business provided printing, graphics, typesetting, and translations. Chronicle Publications, 924 Anacapa St., Suite 4G. Santa Barbara, California.

Teaching

Language Courses:

O     All levels of language instruction: Elementary (Span 101, 102), Intermediate (Span 201, 203), Advanced (Span 302, 303).

Literature courses:

Introduction to Literature (Span 308).

Special Topics (Span 310, 410). Topics might include: the Latin American Boom, Modernism and Modernity and Gabriel Garca Mrquez.

Contemporary Latin-American Literature (Span 478, 488, 490, 499).

US Latina/o Literature (Span 468).

Culture courses:

Latin American Culture and Civilization I (Pre-Colombian to the Independence Movements) and II (Building of New Nations to Contemporary Latin-America) (Span 316, 317).

Latina/o Culture in the U. S. (Span 490, 499).

Art and Culture of the Mexican Revolution (Span 320).

Senior Seminar in Latin American Cultural Studies (Span 490: “Foundational Thoughts: Latin-American Identity and the Essay”).

Constructing Spain (Art, Culture and Nationalism) (Span 320, OCS 224).

Film courses:

Hispanics in Film (Span 360).

Hispanic Literature in Film (Span 490, 499)