Dr. Erika Almenara, Associate Professor of Spanish

Dr. Erika Almenara, Associate Professor of Spanish in the World Languages, Literatures & Cultures department, won a Fulbright U.S. Scholarship to teach and conduct research in Peru while completing her second book: Literary and Cultural Representations of Social Gender Perception in Post-Conflict Societies. 

Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Fulbright scholars also play a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy, establishing long-term relationships between people and nations. Alumni include 61 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 76 MacArthur Fellows, and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.

Independent research and participant surveys confirm that Fulbright exchange experiences lead to greater international co-publication, continued international exchange, and stronger cross-cultural communication skills. 

HER RESEARCH & RELATED PUBLICATIONS

“My research during the tenure of the Fulbright Fellowship will allow me to produce new content for graduate and undergraduate courses taught at the Pontificia Universidad Católica and the University of Arkansas, as well as give me additional information to share in upcoming conferences, in Peru and the United States,” Dr. Almenara explained.

Literary and Cultural Representations of Social Gender Perception in Post-Conflict Societies examines how social perception of gender has changed in post-conflict societies, such as Chile after the end of the military dictatorship, and Peru in the end of the conflict between the state and the terrorist group, Shining Path. It addresses how violence, sexual violence, torture, and the violation of human rights impacts the perception of gender.

“This work is an outgrowth of two Peer-Reviewed articles that I published," Dr. Almenara noted. "One at Revista Iberoamericana entitled, ‘Descomposición de la masculinidad peruana en Bioy de Diego Trelles Paz,’ and another in the book Critical Approaches to the Poetry of Rocío Silva Santisteban entitled ‘Liberación femenina, política y letra en la poesía de Rocío Silva Santisteban.’”