Dr. Dinorah Cortés-Vélez

Dr. Dinorah Cortés-VélezMarquette University

Lalumiere Hall, 498

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America(414) 288-3531dinorah.cortes-velez@marquette.edu

Professor of Spanish

Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Dr. Dinorah Cortés-Vélez is Professor of Spanish at Marquette University. She specializes in Colonial Latin American literatures and cultures. Her secondary field of research is Puerto Rican literature and culture. She has published several articles on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz regarding gender, epistemology, philosophy, and theology. She has also published articles on topics such as poetics, gender, sexuality, and race in contemporary Puerto Rican literature. Her work is included in a critical anthology on Sor Juana’s literary reception during the 20^th century, La recepción literaria de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: un siglo de apreciaciones críticas (1910-2010). She is also a creative writer. She was awarded the National Poetry Prize from PEN Club International of Puerto Rico for her book Suma de los adioses: cementerio poético (San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, Espejitos de Papel Editores, 2021). Her short story book Fugas de duermevela: Prosas heridas (San Juan, Puerto Rico, Isla Negra Editores, 2018) was awarded an honorable mention in the literary contest of the PEN Club International of Puerto Rico. Dr. Cortés-Vélez is the creator and organizer of the biennial Caribbean studies conference Calibans and Caribbeanisms, hosted by Marquette University since 2018. She has a manuscript for a book, “La filosofía de género de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” (“The Philosophy of Gender of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz”), under review.

Education

• Ph.D., MA, Spanish. University of Wisconsin, Madison 
• M.S. Clinical Psychologoy. Caribbean Center for Advanced Studies, Old San Juan, S.J., Puerto Rico
• B.A., Hispanic Studies. University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Courses Taught

Developed and Taught: 

SPAN 3310: Peoples and Cultures of Latin America (as Platform for an Anti-Racist Pedagogy)

SPAN 3310: Peoples and Cultures of Latin America (as Platform for an Ignatian, Anti-Racist Pedagogy)

SPAN 3800: Religion and Literature in Latin America and the Caribbean

SPAN 4310-5310: Film and Society in Spanish: Introduction to Film Analysis

SPAN 4320: Latin American and Latinx Contemporary Issues through Film and Cultural Theory

SPAN 4320: Latin American and Latinx Contemporary Issues: Film, Visual Cultures, and the Power of the Image

SPAN 4450/5450: Literary Voices of Afro-Puerto Rican Literature

SPAN 4520: Hispanic Studies: Latin American/ Latinx Literatures and the Visual Arts

SPAN 4700: Creative Writing in Spanish

SPAN 4700: Creative Writing in Spanish: An Anti-Racist Writing Workshop

SPAN 4931/5931: Female Coming-of-Age Narratives in Latin American, U.S. Latino, and Caribbean Literatures

SPAN 4996:  Senior Experience: Religion, Humanism, and Social Justice in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Taught: 

SPAN 3001: Advanced Communication in Spanish

SPAN 3005: Advanced Communication in Spanish for Heritage Speakers

SPAN 3310: Peoples and Cultures of Latin America

SPAN 3320: Contemporary Themes of Latin America

SPAN 3500: Texts, Images and Critical Thinking in Spanish

SPAN 3505: Texts, Images and Critical Thinking in Spanish for Heritage and Native Speakers

SPAN 3515: Masterpieces of Early Spanish Literature                       

SPAN 4600/5600: Survey of Colonial Latin American Literature: From Pre-Columbian Times to the Baroque of the Indies

SPAN 4670/ 5670: Latin American Short Story          

Specialization

• Colonial Latin American Literature and Culture
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
• Gender and Queer Studies
• Contemporary Latin American Literatures and Cultures
• Puerto Rican Literature and Culture
• The Role of Affect in Language Pedagogy

Publications

Selected Publications (after tenure): 

I. Colonial Literature 

• “‘Between the Tree of Memory and the Bark of History’: Revisiting El Inca Garcilaso’s Sites of Memory.” Approaches to Teaching the Works of Inca Garcilaso. Editors: Christian Fernández, José Antonio Mazzotti. Modern Language Association of America. March 2022.  247-256.
• “Década de 1980: Hallazgos, trampas y una plétora de publicaciones”. La recepción literaria de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: un siglo de apreciaciones críticas (1910-2010). Biblioteca Batioja: Instituto de Ideas Auriseculares (IDEA), 2021. 371-387.
• “Faith and Dissidence in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” Volume Three: 1451 to 1770, Religious Belief and Dissent. A Companion to World Literature” General Editor: Dr. Ken Segneurie. Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature. Wiley Publishers, 2019. 1-12.
• “Primero sueño y Segundo sueño, un diálogo poético trasatlántico” [“First Dream and Second Dream, a Transatlantic Poetic Dialogue”]. Calíope: Journal of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry. From Muses to Poets: New Approaches to Women and Poetry in Early Modern Iberia and Colonial Latin America. Volume 22, Number 2 (Fall 2017): 217-234.
• “Sor Juana ante la paradoja de un sueño” [“Sor Juana Before the Paradox of a Dream”]. A Journal Devoted to the Teaching of Spanish and Portuguese. Vol. 98. Número 1 (Mar 2015): 139-151

II. Puerto Rican Literature 

• “Langue, colonialité et littérature portoricaine”. Porto Rico: Une île bien singulière…Entre américanisation et hispanité. Les Presses Universitaires des Antilles (PUA). Collection: écrivains de la Caraïbe. Pointe à Pitre (Guadeloupe). Ed. and Trans. Françoise Léziart. April 2022. 29-37.
• “’Un neutrino azorado en su carrera’”: El canto cósmico homoerótico de Víctor Fragoso”. Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Tercera Serie. Núm. 14 (diciembre 2020): 52-63.
• “Hecho de sangre: el gótico caribeño de Ana María Fuster Lavín”[“Bloody Acts: The Caribbean Gothic of Ana María Fuster Lavín”]. Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Tercera Serie. Núm. 11 (agosto 2019): 91-99.
• “Mitopoeia y posmodernidad barroca en Las brujas del teatro feminista” [“Mitopoeia and Baroque Postmodernity in Las brujas del teatro feminista”]. Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Tercera Serie, Núm. 7 (enero 2018): 36-47.
• ”Clara Gardenia Otero, Palmira Parés y el feminismo queer de Manuel Ramos Otero” [“Clara Gardenia Otero, Palmira Parés and Manuel Ramos Otero’s Queer Feminism”]. Special Issue: Revisiting Puerto Rican Queer Sexualities. Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. XXX. No. 2 (Summer 2018): 68-87.
• “Kitsch neobarroco en la novelabingode Manuel Ramos Otero” [“Neobaroque Kitsch in la novelabingo by Manuel Ramos Otero”]. Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Tercera Serie, Núm. 7 (enero 2018): 166-177.
• “Puertorriqueñidad y negritud en Down These Mean Streets” [“Puerto Ricanness and Negritude in Down These Mean Streets”]. Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.Tercera Serie. Número V (enero 2017): 53-67.

• “Misticismo y erotismo en la querencia de Anjelamaría Dávila” [“Mysticism and Eroticism in la querencia by Anjelamaría Dávila”]. Cuadrivium: Revista del Departamento de Español de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Humacao. Número 11. Año 17 (otoño 2015-primavera 2016): 72-77.

III. Latin American Literature 

• “Orfismo, rosas y locura en un cuento de Clarice Lispector” [“Orphism, Roses, and Madness in a Short Story by Clarice Lispector”]. Revista de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades (REGS).  A Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies (JGSS).  Vol. 47. No. 2 (2021):  41-60.

IV. The Role of Affect in Language Pedagogy

• “A Hope-Filled Future for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Youth in U.S. Jesuit Universities.” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education. Jan 12, 2023: https://conversationsmagazine.org/a-hope-filled-future-for-bipoc-and-lgbtqia-youth-in-u-s-jesuit-universities-47a6ab702f89.
• “Teaching Race While Being a Racialized Subject: Radical Vulnerability and DifficultConversations, A Pedagogy for Critical Times.” On the Vocation of the Educator at This Moment. Eds. Jennifer S. Maney & Melissa M. Shew. Milwaukee: Marquette UP, 2021. 36-43.*

*An abbreviated version of this chapter was published by invitation on Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: “Transformational Teaching is Based on Humility.” September 7, 2022: https://conversationsmagazine.org/transformational-teaching-is-based-in-humility-2f6d5a85a2d8.

• “Teaching-from-the Heart Toolkit.” Marquette Center for Teaching and Learning. Spring 2024. https://www.marquette.edu/center-for-teaching-and-learning/documents/teaching-from-the-heart.pdf.
• “An Ignatian, Anti-Racist Instructional Template in the Language and Cultures Classroom.” Marquette Center for Teaching and Learning. Spring 2024. https://www.marquette.edu/center-for-teaching-and-learning/documents/anti-racist-ignatian-classroom.pdf

V. Creative Writing Books Published 

• Book of Essays: Más allá el mar. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial EDP University, 2023.
• Poetry Book:  Suma de los adioses:  cementerio poético.  San Sebastián, Puerto Rico:  Editorial Espejitos de Papel, 2021.  PEN Internacional de Puerto Rico Club National Poetry Award.
• Short story book: Fugas de duermevela: prosas heridas. [Flights of Twilight Sleep: Wounded Texts]. Editorial Isla Negra, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2018.  PEN Internacional de Puerto Rico Club Honorable Mention.
• Poetry chapbook: Poemas de la soledad en Wisconsin.  Colección La cólera de las erinias, 8. San Sebastián, Puerto Rico: Indómita Editores, 2015.
• Multi-genre miscellany: Cuarentena y otras pejigueras menstruales.  San Juan, Puerto Rico: Isla Negra Editores, 2013.
• Novel: El arca de la memoria: una biomitografía. 1^st and 2^nd edition. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Isla Negra Editores. 2011, 2012.