Our former Spanish student, Ahmed Abdullah, recently sent us a wonderful email to thank our faculty and highlight the importance of the Spanish language in his daily clinic practice. We are happy to share his email here, with his consent:I’m emailing as a former student in the SPN minor, and a current 2nd year dental student at Stony Brook. Every single day that I have been in clinic, I have been asked to speak in Spanish with a patient. Whether calling for appointment changes, helping with taking a history, or determining a chief complaint, the skills of fluency and linguistic navigation I learned from your great professors have been massive. 

A stray thought that I had yesterday was:”Wow, I use my Spanish classes on a day to day basis in clinic WAY more than I use my biology classes”. 

Aside from simply making me a better Spanish speaker, my experiences in your classes have made me a more well-rounded and educated person. From the higher-level classes (particularly as a result of conversations with my classmates), I have become much more intimately aware of Hispanic culture, which strengthens me with understanding these patients massively. The point of this email ultimately is to let you all know what a positive difference you have made in my, and my current and future patients’ lives. 

Thank you.

Ahmed Abdullah, D.D.S Candidate, Class of 2026, Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine

As part of the activities commemorating 50^th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup against the socialist government of Salvador Allende that marked the beginning of the Pinochet’s 17-year-long dictatorship in Chile, our doctoral student Samuel Espíndola and Prof. Javier Uriarte organized a visit to the exhibition Chile: Dignidad, 1973-2023, by the New York-based artist María Verónica San Martín (Santiago, 1981) at Fordham University’s Lipani Gallery. A group of PhD students from the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature had the privilege of walking through the exhibition guided by the curator, Prof. Carl Fischer (Fordham University), and the artist herself.

Photo 1: Artist María Verónica San Martín in Lipani Gallery, Fordham University.

Fischer introduced the group to the logic behind organizing an art exhibition such as this one, where recent events seem to be filled with echoes of past violences, charging the words used to described them, sometimes in opposite directions. For example, during the 2019 social uprising (also known as Estallido or Revuelta) against the authoritarian government of Sebastián Piñera (2018-2022), “Dignidad” (dignity) was one of the emblematic words used in chants and famously in the unofficial renaming of the Baquedano Squarehere demonstrators used to gather. However, this word appears also in the name of Colonia Dignidad, “an insular, autarchic, fundamentalist, totalitarian compound in southern Chile”[1], an enclave populated by Germans since 1961 whose leader was the former Nazi Paul Schäfer and where systematic sexual abuse was committed. During the dictatorship, the Colonia was engaged in intimate collaboration with the military regime. In 1991, once the dictatorship ended, the name was changed to Villa Baviera; its residents were free to go but the place remained a controversial site due to numerous national and international judicial cases.

San Martín discussed in detail her creative process (including some learning and discoveries made during her formative years that led her to the U.S.), the assembling of pieces in the exhibition, spanning years of work and different materials, from book art, drawings, engravings, sculpture, to performance. Since direct interaction with the materials is an essential part of her work, the artist manipulated them, allowing us to see different ways to fold and unfold the books. Thus, the group could learn about the documentary and artistic research behind the exhibition and, ultimately, how it is shaped by San Martín’s own experience as a Chilean artist working in the aftermath of the dictatorship (not being a firsthand witness) and living in the USA during the flagrant Human Rights violations that occurred between 2019 and 2020, which inevitably brings reminiscence of the country’s turbulent past.

The visit ended with San Martín’s demonstration of how one the sculptures was used in an art and sound installation with a performance, also titled “Dignidad,” based on secret telephone documents about Colonia Dignidad found in 2012 by the ex-settler and activist Winfried Hempel and now kept in the National Archives of Chile. The piece is a modular metal structure that can be assembled as a box, a cross, a tunnel, a square, and has been presented in several venues by the artist and different performers in Chile, Netherlands, Canada, the US, and Germany.

Photo 2: Prof. Fischer (right, with hat) and HLL Stony Brook University graduate students and Prof. Uriarte (front).

[1] Fischer, “Feminist Re-Mappings of Colonia Dignidad as Antifascist Praxis”, Dismantling the nation: Contemporary art in Chile, ed. Florencia San Martín, Carla Macchiavello Cornejo, and Paula Solimano. Amherst College Press, 2023.

Blog post by by Samuel Espíndola

Hispanic Languages and Literature is extremely glad  to welcome Lina Quiroz, our new Staff Assistant. Lina will be helping our undergraduate students and faculty to navigate our Spanish courses and requirements. She will also be assisting in all matters related to the new program in Native American Indigenous Studies (NAIS),  housed in our department.

You can come Mondays to Fridays to our main office in Humanities 1055 and talk to Lina in person, in English or Spanish.  Here is a brief interview we did with her last week to know a bit more about her career and interests:

¡Bienvenida, Lina! You have a long experience working in the education industry, can you tell us more about your background before joining Stony Brook?

During my college years, I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Romance Languages. Seeking a more practical path, I transitioned into the field of immigration law, taking on the role of an immigration paralegal in New York City. As life evolved with the arrival of my first child, my professional focus shifted towards opportunities closer to home in Queens, leading me to secure a position at St. John’s University as a Senior Secretary of the Associate Dean of Global Initiatives. Within a year, I progressed to the role of Coordinator of Global Initiatives at The Peter J. College of Business, where I played a crucial role in managing the global programs within the college. This experience laid the foundation for my subsequent promotion to Assistant Director of Global Programs. In this role, I spearheaded the management of the Global Destination Course Program, involving embedded courses with travel components, and contributed to the success of GLOBE (Global Loan Opportunities for Budding Entrepreneurs), a student managed academic program that provides small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.

My journey has always been fueled by a passion for international studies and cross-cultural experiences. Now, finding myself in a role at Stony Brook within the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature, I feel a profound sense of coming full circle in my professional endeavors.

Did you have any previous contact with Stony Brook?

After earning my degree from Hunter College (CUNY) in New York City, I became familiar with the SUNY schools, among which Stony Brook stood out as a prominent research university. Its reputation for significant advancements in the sciences and health industry piqued my interest. While recently delving into my research on Long Island universities, I discovered that Stony Brook not only excelled in the sciences but also boasted outstanding programs in the Arts, Sciences, Engineering, and Business. Discovering that Stony Brook University holds the prestigious position as the top-ranked SUNY institution in the state also made a lasting impression on me.

What were your first impressions of our campus and department?

When arriving to campus, I didn’t realize the physical size of the University is so enormous. I have heard of Stony Brook being its own little city, and now I understand why. The numerous buildings and housing structures along with the prestigious hospital are impressive. There is a real university spirit, and you sense that as you drive through the manicured pathways of the university. I find the Hispanic Languages and Literature department to be a warm and welcoming department. Everyone I meet is genuinely nice and there is an energy of eagerness to learn. There is also a notable passion in the faculty and staff that reminds me of my undergraduate days as a language major.

What do you love to do in summer or when you are not busy working?

I proudly wear the hats of a soccer, lacrosse, and dance mom, constantly shuttling between games, practices and recitals with my family. We love to travel and experience new cultures. When international journeys aren’t feasible, we like to explore areas in our own region. Having grown up in Queens and currently residing in Nassau County, the eastern part of Long Island remains uncharted territory for me. This summer, my plan is to explore what the East End has to offer while creating lasting memories with my family.

I also pride myself in creating a meal that brings friends and family together. Cooking is my heartfelt expression, a way to show love. I enjoy making Latin and Mediterranean dishes, but I like to explore various ethnic flavors. In the summers, you will always find us in the backyard spending time with friends and family alongside an open flamed grill as the music plays in the background. As a native Colombian, my culinary skills focus on Latin-American cuisine, including my favored arepas and sancocho. The comforting Latin dishes I make while listening to salsa music and sipping on strong coffee fills our home with the lively essence of our culture.

This past Thursday Nov 2, 2023, our department received the visit of professors Susana Bardavío Estebán (U of Burgos), Santiago Díaz Lage (UNED), María Xesús Lama (U of Barcelona) and Antonio Pedrós-Gascón (Colorado State U), who came to our campus to participate in a workshop on women writers and the representation of domestic violence in Spanish periodicals from the second half of the nineteenth century . The guests scholars participate in an international research group (GenViPreF) that collaborate in the preparation of databases, studies and editions of texts about gender and violence published in the Peninsular women’s press between the years 1848 to 1918 .

The workshop started after lunch in our doctoral seminar room with a fascinating conversation of Prof. Vialette and our Emeritus Professor Lou Charnon-Deutsch, author of Hold that Pose: Visual Culture in the Late Nineteenth-Century Periodical (2008) and other seminal publications on gender in Spanish literature of the 19^th century. Prof. Charnon-Deutsch described the challenges of compiling data and doing archival research at the National Library in Madrid before the digital age and the impact that the digitalization of vast collections of periodicals in the last decade has had on our studies.

The second session was structured as a conference panel with three paper presentations in Spanish. Prof. Díaz Lage opened the table with a talk on a case of gender violence unusually alluded to in Ellas, one of the feminine periodicals, considering that these publications tended to avoid current events and politics. The second paper was presented by Prof. Bardavío on two novels published in El Correo de la Moda, and the particularities of the feminine Spanish role model compared to the Victorian ideal of the “angel in the house.” Finally, Prof. Pedrós-Gascón presented on Concepción Gimeno de Flaquer’s figure as an intellectual and how most of her novels represented conservative images of women, in contrast to her essays and political activity.

This enriching event was organized by our colleague Prof. Aurelie Vialette –a member of the GenViPref project–, together with María Xesús Lama and Álex Alonso Nogueira (Brooklyn College). The details of the full workshop can be seen in the poster and program here.

Image gallery:

The Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature is holding its annual undergraduate informative session this Wed Oct 25^th (2023) from 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm in the Humanities Building room 2036 (second floor). All interested students are welcome to attend and explore our courses, academic programs, cultural events and enjoy a free lunch!

The Open House will present an overview of our Major, Double Major, Minor, Honors Program, as well as our spring 24 course offerings, Teaching Program and the path to the BA/MAT. Explore our website for more information.

Students that came to Stony Brook with prior knowledge of Spanish (but no standardized tests, such as AP) should take the Foreign Language Placement Exam (FLPE) or a Challenge Exam. In either case, start by contacting the Language Learning Resource Center (LLRC). For more information on challenge exams (offered for SPN 112, SPN211, SPN212 and SPN311) see here or contact the Spanish director of undergraduate studies.

The Spanish Major (BA in Spanish) give students a solid education in the languages, literatures, cinema, arts and cultures of Latin America, Spain and the Latinx communities of the United States. The Major requires twelve Spanish courses in the 300/400 level. If the student decides to combine two majors (Double Major), the requirement of courses drops to ten. Many students do Double Majors in Spanish and Biology, for example, but combinations with English, History, Psychology or other languages are also popular.

The Spanish Minor is one of the largest and more popular Minors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Our Minor program is very flexible and requires six Spanish courses in the 300/400 level.  Any student can easily change from a Minor to a Double Major. It only requires four more courses in Spanish.

Tip: Don’t forget to consult both directors of undergraduate studies to be sure that you can fulfill all requirements for your Double Major in time for graduation.

Students that are interested in research or are considering applying to graduate or professional schools (such as Medicine or Law), can explore our Honors Program, which is similar to our Major but requires a senior thesis.

Many of our Spanish Majors (BA in Spanish) opt for the Secondary Teaching Preparation Program (Teaching Certificate) or decide to pursue a 5-year combined BA with a Master of Arts in Teaching (BA/MAT). For all questions related to pedagogy courses and field experience, please see here or contact Prof. Sarah Jourdain.

If you have any questions about your Spanish courses or our Programs, email Prof. Joseph Pierce (Fall 23) or Daniela Flesler (Spring 24).

¡Nos vemos el día 25 de octubre a la 1 pm!

Born and raised in Chile, Sebastián López Vergara traversed the continent for his education and career as researcher and instructor in the field of Latinx and Indigenous Diaspora Studies. He came to our department under the IDEA Fellows program, a new Stony Brook initiative from the Office of the Provost designed to hire, engage, and mentor Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA). The program brought this 2023 a total of eight fellows to our campus for two-year post docs with faculty positions at the lecturer level, and the option, after successful completion of the program, of staying as tenure-track assistant professors.

Sebastián holds a BA in English Literature and Linguistics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and an MA and PhD from the University of Washington at Seattle in Comparative Literature, Cinema and Media. He has extensive experience in teaching and community outreach, and this fall 2023 he is offering a class in Spanish (SPN 415/510 Hispanic Cultures in Contact) centered on contemporary issues of land exploitation, Indigenous and feminist politics, racial oppression and justice, and colonial dispossession, as well as on different historical projects of social liberation from Mexico to Patagonia.

As a way of welcoming Sebastián to our academic community and getting to know him better, we engaged in a conversation on the train about his personal and academic background, his first impressions of New York and his plans for the following semesters.

PF: Sebastián, welcome to Stony Brook! The department is extremely glad and honored to have you in our team. I hope you had an uneventful moving experience from Seattle to New York. Since you have lived most of your life next to the Pacific Ocean, in Chile and Washington, any thoughts about your first encounters with the Atlantic and the New York area?

SLV: Thank you so much for the welcome! It’s been so good to be here these weeks, getting to know my colleagues, graduate and undergraduate students. They all have been so warm and genuinely friendly. It is indeed my first sustained encounter with the Atlantic. I always thought of New York as the northernmost Caribbean island with its rich and complex history of the Black diaspora. Being here, I’m starting to learn that it is that and also the histories of the Shinnecock as well as so many other diasporic/migrant communities, particularly these days, from Latin America, West Africa, and Asia. It is incredible to see that in the urban space where it materializes as a global and local experience. 

PF: Can you tell us more about your academic background and previous community engagement?

SLV: My undergraduate education was in “letters” (Letras), in English, and that training taught me the centrality of language in all the operations of life. Not so much that language “creates” realities, but that it is indissoluble from the multiple and conflicting realities we socially create. But I felt uneasy with the “English” part of “letters,” having studied in Chile. And I’d say that this academic uneasiness became more noticeable after I read Edward Said’s Orientalism for an undergraduate literary theory class and, at the same time, a renewed cycle of Mapuche protests against state violence and for territorial autonomy in the late 2000s, early 2010s emerged in Chile. My graduate education, I am starting to realize, was my attempt to understand that. I studied Comparative Literature at the University of Washington, Seattle, where I had excellent mentors who trained me in the fields of Indigenous studies, critical theory, and Latin American cultural studies.

And, while I was writing the dissertation, I had the opportunity to be part of University Beyond Bars, an organization that offered post-secondary education to the incarcerated in the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe. With a good friend, I co-taught Spanish language and Latin American history and it was a really important pedagogical experience to facilitate the completion of incarcerated students’ associates’s degrees in such adverse conditions. 

PF:. You recently defended your dissertation in Seattle, can you summarize the main ideas and research involved in that work?  

SLV: My dissertation is titled “Archives of Post-Occupation: Indigenous Peoples and the Biopolitics of Modern Chile,” and studies discourses on Indigenous recognition and erasure in modern Chile as they relate to the histories of the Mapuche and Selk’nam peoples throughout the twentieth century. I close-read photographic collections, poetry, political theory, and testimonials, and propose three main points. The first one is to understand that the Chilean state used a range of colonial strategies of recognition and elimination that are seldom thought to work together in current scholarship to occupy Mapuche and Selk’nam territories. Second, to grasp that Mapuche and Selk’nam political traditions used the very same discourses on recognition and elimination to propose anticolonial strategies. The last point is to think that dispossession is organized by paradoxical relations of power. That is to say, the discourses that shape dispossession, as much as they support the violent displacement and oppression of Indigenous peoples, also function as levers for Indigenous anticolonial projects. Broadly speaking, I propose an approach to understanding shifting forms of power between the state and Indigenous peoples in twentieth-century Latin America.

PF: Your research and fascinating reflection on anticolonial projects immediately open a wider conversation about cultures and politics. I see in that dynamic of power that you describe a crucial political strategy since the colonial period, when natives would use Castilian laws and texts to defend their rights and recompose their traditions. 

SLV: Exactly! For example, the political and spatial negotiations of the Mapuche with the Spanish crown in the Parliament of Quilin in 1641 articulate the contemporary Mapuche autonomist political project of recovery of Mapuche ancestral territories, Wallmapu, against ongoing Chilean state occupation of Mapuche lands. Similarly, in the Bolivian Andes, the movimiento de apoderados generales, an Indigenous movement that sought to defend communal lands (the ayllu) in the late 1800s, found in the declassification of colonial land titles from the archives a tool to stop land dispossession in oligarchic Bolivia. 

PF: We are currently at a very exciting moment at Stony Brook for the development of Indigenous Studies, how do you see the future of that field?

SLV:The future looks really promising. I could just mention, for example, how the current dialogues between Native American studies and Latin American Indigenous studies are very fruitful in developing a hemispheric understanding of Indigenous politics and culture and colonialism. That means being very attentive to particular histories, intellectual and political traditions while, simultaneously, understanding those formations relationally without abstracting their differences. In fact, I think the fields are very intentional in learning from the histories and “methods” of Indigenous politics and activism since these have always been in dialogue across geographies. I’d also say that a really important development is taking place through this dialogue, which is to think of Indigenous forced migration and diaspora as a structuring reality across contemporary Indigenous societies. I think this last point is extremely important since it underscores how the shared experiences of Indigenous migration across the hemisphere are shaping emerging understandings of Indigeneity and strategies to contend with state and economic structures driving the forced displacement of different communities. Or, to put it simply, I think the question that is making the field of Indigenous studies so productive is to understand how the multiple histories of Indigenous politics have strived to create truly democratic societies. And that’s a very pressing question in today’s political climate.

PF: Considering those migrations and diasporas that have changed the human landscape of the Americas and are currently re-shaping our societies here in New York, how do you see your research and teaching in relation to inclusion, diversity, equity and access, which are the keywords and core values of the IDEA fellows program? 

SLV: I think being now in a Hispanic Languages and Literature department is extremely advantageous to address those core values. With the student body changing the university, I think HLL has a very important role in attending to the questions that Latinx, Indigenous, Afro-Latinx, and other minoritized students (both graduate and undergraduate) have about the field, the knowledges they’re learning, and the university itself. I think that listening to those questions, about the changing character and patterns of migration, as well as the social, cultural, and political relations that shape displacements and many other issues will not only reveal to students “alternative histories” and “knowledges” that were previously considered as “differences to be suppressed” or “peripheries” and not as core forms of knowing. But also, and I think this is very important, focusing on these questions brings the possibility of unsettling categories that were thought to be self-evident in the field and that still organize it. In other words, I think that it is the kinds of questions that students are posing around access, linguistic/cultural diversity, and inclusion and equity that actualize the role of education at the university level.

I also think that the emerging institutional ties between different departments at Stony Brook to support the creation of a Native American and Indigenous Studies minor and program are extremely important, and I’m more than happy to support that effort. I think it’s instances like this that take up the spirit of land acknowledgments (that we all reckon with Indigenous presence and tenure of the land) with concrete institutional practices that start undoing histories of dispossession and inequalities.

PF: Indeed, this scenario of interdepartmental collaboration and institutional support is already creating new conversations on campus and the community. It seems that we have an exciting road ahead!