Rocha to conduct research at University of Florida
Carolina Rocha, assistant professor of foreign languages and literature, will have the opportunity to travel to the University of Florida to conduct research using their Latin American collection this summer.
Rocha–who has been at SIUE since 2008–is the recipient of the competitive Library Research Travel Grant from UF’s Center for Latin American Studies.
“It was a competition and [award winners] will spend a week doing archival research at the University of Florida where they have a Latin American collection,” said Rocha. “I will be looking at newspapers and in addition to newspapers, I will be looking at pictures and reviews related to the films that I will also be studying.”
Rocha is a native of Rosario, Argentina who received her PhD in Hispanic Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. Over the years, according to Rocha, her research interests have shifted from literature to visual representation.
“Even though my degree was in Hispanic Literature, during the last few years I switched from doing research in literature to research in cinema and visual representation – in different arts [such as] photography and film,” said Rocha.
Since coming to SIUE in 2008, Rocha has co-edited two book volumes – “New Trends in Argentina and Brazilian Literature” and “Violence in Argentina Literature and Film.”
Rocha can boast that she has been an award-winning researcher for several years as, in addition to her newest award, she has received several awards and grants including SIUE’s STEP Grant (Seed Grant for Transitional and Exploratory Projects). The accomplished researcher acknowledged SIUE’s Graduate School–in particular–for encouraging her to apply for external grants.
“I am very grateful to all the people who have helped me, particularly the Graduate School at SIUE – they have been very supportive,” shared Rocha. “I have a couple of colleagues also, Professor Charles Berger and Professor Jeff Skoblow–both professors of English–who gave me feedback on the grant.”
Rocha looks forward to her upcoming research venture and is particularly enthused about the new ideas and inspiration that she will bring back to her students.
“I hope the materials I bring will inspire students to write their senior essays about these topics; that will be a wonderful blend of teaching and research,” said Rocha.
Filed Under: Foreign Languages & Lit
