Modern Literature Commons^™

Conversations Abroad: The Effect Of Interlocutor Type, Relationship Quality, And L2 Proficiency On Interaction In Naturalistic Settings, Tripp Strawbridge

Modern Languages & Literature

Study abroad (SA) is touted for providing language learners with regular exposure to a second language (L2) in naturalistic settings. However, few studies have examined how interaction occurs in situ. This study analyzed 13 hours of naturalistic dyadic conversations self-recorded by 15 US-based undergraduate sojourners studying abroad for one semester in Spain. Conversations were analyzed for interaction metrics previously posited as relevant to L2 acquisition in SA: speaking time, negotiation of meaning, lexical assistance, and corrective feedback. The study then analyzed how these variables were conditioned by interlocutor identity (host family [HF] member, local native speaker [NS] peer, and nonnative …

Los Estudios Latinoamericanos Ante El Renacimiento Psicodélico, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

The chapter analyzes erasures and appropriations that the discourse of the psychedelic renaissance arising in the Global North imposes on long-standing practices in indigenous societies and countercultural environments. It also suggests ways in which a critical Humanities can, from a Latin American perspective, offer more inclusive understandings of the psychedelic experience.

A Hard-Boiled Hero In An Atomized World: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’S El Hombre De Mi Vida And Milenio Carvalho Lament Neoliberal Alienation, José Ortigas

Modern Languages & Literature

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s Pepe Carvalho detective novels comprise a seminal series, spanning eighteen novels from 1972 to 2004, that consolidated the novela negra as a popular, denunciatory genre in Spain. While much has been written about the early entries in the series, the latter novels, namely El hombre de mi vida (2000), Milenio I: Rumbo a Kabul, and Milenio II: En las antípodas (2004), have not received similar attention. Critics like Colmeiro, Balibrea, and Nichols have accurately read these novels as a denunciation of the most evident negative consequences of globalization at the turn of the new millennium, principally gentrification, …

The Relationship Between Social Network Typology, L2 Proficiency Growth, And Curriculum Design In University Study Abroad, Tripp Strawbridge

Modern Languages & Literature

This study utilizes social network analysis to characterize a typology of study abroad sojourner experience, detailing the relationship of social experience types to second language (L2) proficiency growth and study abroad program design. In contrast with previous research, the study performs a quantitative analysis of structural and compositional network features to identify a typology of social networks. Participants were 30 L2 Spanish learners from five US-based semester-long university study abroad programs in Spain. Social network data were collected using a social network questionnaire, while L2 development was measured through an elicited imitation task. Results identify four prominent social network patterns, …

Linguistic Factors Modulating Gender Assignment In Spanish–English Bilingual Speech, Abel Cruz

Modern Languages & Literature

Drawing on naturally-occurring bilingual speech from a well-defined codeswitching community in Southern Arizona, this study examined the influence of semantic gender (a.k.a. biological gender), analogical gender, and other-language phonemic cues in modulating gender assignment in Spanish–English codeswitched speech. Thirty-four Spanish–English early bilinguals completed a forced-choice elicitation task involving two codeswitching environments: Spanish determiner–English noun switches (Task 1) and English–Spanish switched copula constructions (Task 2). The results revealed that for human-denoting nouns, bilinguals assigned grammatical gender based on the presupposed sex of a noun's referent in both syntactic environments tested. As for inanimate nouns, bilinguals were more likely to assign masculine …

Biutiful: En Los Márgenes De La Cosmópolis Neoliberal, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

In Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, the city operates as a sort of anti-model exposing the dark side of neoliberal economies in larger fashionable cities, with an emphasis in precarization and exclusion and dynamics of violence against migrant populations. To this end, he uses an aesthetics of incongruence and a focus over a motley society, in permanent tension and negotiation between variegated groups. These strategies coexist with two other themes: exclusion represented as a form of expulsion or excrecence, and the appeal to memory as an ethical imperative that disrupts the logic of monetary calculus in which the main characters …

Review Of Chiara Mazzucchelli, The Heart And The Island: A Critical Study Of Sicilian American Literature, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

Sicily’s island status and centuries of conquests and foreign rule have molded the identity of Sicilian people and culture in unique ways. Reflecting this diver-sity, Sicilian literature has long occupied a distinct place within Italian litera-ture. Likewise, in The Heart and the Island, scholar Chiara Mazzucchelli argues that Sicilian American writers have produced a substantial body of literature that, although traditionally subsumed under the broader domain of Italian American literature, manifests “a distinct Sicilian Americanness” that she terms “sicilianamericanita.” Following on the footsteps of scholars like Edvige Giunta and Donna Gabaccia, Mazzucchelli presents an ambitious “intraethnic decen-tering project” that by …

Intercultural Communicative Competence And Spanish Heritage Language Speakers: An Overview From The U.S., Australia And Europe, Adriana Raquel Díaz, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

Research on ‘heritage/community language education’ (HCLE) has a relatively recent trajectory, but it has generated a large number of scholarly publications, particularly in relation to Spanish in the United States (U.S.) where the growth of Spanish heritage language learners (HLL) has been exponential. However, to date, limited research attention has been given to the intersection between heritage language learning and the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This may be attributed to the assumption that, on a daily basis, such learners are required to move and effectively operate between languages and cultures and, therefore, already possess adequate levels of ICC. …

El Espectro, En Teoría, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

The article offers a synthesis of spectral theory from the publication of Spectres de Marx by Jacques Derrida and Ghostly Matters, by Avery Gordon, with a focus on its impact and relevance for Latin American cultural and narrative studies. He also offers a summary of the contents in the special issue "XVI. México espectral".

Jewish Refugee Women, Transnational Coalition Politics, And Affect In Ebe Cagli Seidenberg’S Come Ospiti: Eva Ed Altri, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

Writing across and beyond borders evokes at once the human aspiration to connectedness and the reality of a divided world invested in particular interests. For Ebe Cagli Seidenberg, the act of writing emanates from the Fascist racial laws of 1938, which forced her – a young Jewish Italian woman – to leave her native Italy and find refuge in the United States. The production of a five-volume series entitled Ciclo dell’esilio obbligato [Cycle of the Forced Exile, 1975-91] is a testament to that unwanted separation and the implications that borders have on processes of self and communal identity, …

El Tirano Indigente: Pedro Páramo, Deuda Y Necropolítica, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

This article studies the connections between conditions of tyrannical control in Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Páramo and forms of violence and government in the contemporary world. It discusses debt and violence, two essential elements in the plot of Pedro Páramo, from the perspective of the so-called drug war, as well as critical discussions of debt that have emerged in the context of recent financial crises (Graeber, Lazzarato, Varoufakis).

Pedro Páramo’s tyranny is built on the implementation of two powers that feed on each other: necropolitical power and control through debt. Necropolitical power (Mbembé) involves the administration of and dominion …

Tales Of The Brick Age: Corruption And Bankruptcy In The Late Works Of Rafael Chirbes, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

The subprime collapse, the Global Recession, and the Eurozone crisis have given rise to an entire subgenre of crisis narratives in literary and visual arts, attempting to make sense of the human aspect, causes and outcomes of the largest non-war economic commotion in the West since the Great Depression. In Spain, the last two novels of Rafael Chirbes (1949-2015), Crematorio (2007) and En la orilla (2013)1 have distinguished themselves for an insightful view and poignant reflections on the real estate boom and bust, which defined the economic and cultural parameters of Spain after the democratic transition. Here I will call …

Songs Of Passage And Sacrifice: Gabriella Ghermandi’S Stories In Performance, Laura Dolp, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

In this time and on this page, Spivak's island seems an apt place to begin a discussion about storytelling, resistance, and belonging. This chapter documents a conversation originating from two disciplinary perspectives-literature (Ferraro) and music (Dolp). We explore how spoken-word performance in a global context can facilitate social empowerment, craft a cultural past, and invigorate political consciousness. Although our analytical strategies and some of our conclusions differ, we share the assertion that the notion of artistic citizenship as it is defined elsewhere in this collection is considerably complicated, and even requires redefinition, in the context of non-Western cultures. Our present …

Casting Sound: Modality And Poetics In Gabriella Ghermandi’S Regina Di Fiori E Di Perle, Laura Dolp, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

This article investigates Gabriella Ghermandi’s novel Regina di fiori e di perle (2007) through two disciplinary perspectives: the first considers music as a historical and social practice through historical observation of Ghermandi’s characters who reference Ethiopian oral traditions; the second explores the contemporary dynamics of migration and transnational identity through textual analysis that critiques how storytelling practices are carried into an Italian context. We argue that the novel reflects a dissemination of oral memory across generations and gender and into a postcolonial setting, and that its characters reflect adaptations to institutional and twentieth-century technological change. Crucially, and more specifically, the …

Introduction: Theories Of The Ghost In A Transhispanic Context, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas, Amanda L. Petersen

Modern Languages & Literature

Nuestros muertos quieren ser parte de nuestra conversaci6n, no nos permiten olvidar, nos dicen que las comunidades que formamos en vida son parte tambien de las comunidades ausentes. -Cristina Rivera Garza, in Monica Maristain 1

[Our dead want to be part of our conversation, they do not allow us to forget, they tell us that the communities that are no longer present are also part of the communities we create in life.]

The commonplace phrase, "the ghosts of the past," evokes remoteness, something intangible that nevertheless is ever present, a sort of historical sublime. 2 As the Mexican novelist Cristina …

Drawing Testimony, Coming To Writing: Ebe Cagli Seidenberg’S Le Sabbie Del Silenzio And Il Tempo Dei Dioscuri, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

This essay considers the question of how “coming to writing” describes the creative process, how mourning becomes language, and how the emptiness of silence turns into word, in relation to the life and literary work of Italian Jewish writer Ebe Cagli Seidenberg. In other words, how did Cagli’s exile to the U.S. facilitate her voice? And how did language become, for her, nothing less than a form of “country”? In examining her journey to testimonial writing, I contend that visual imagery—a combination of visual artifacts and visual memories—plays a major role in getting past the wall of silence, overcoming the …

Mil Y Una Muertes De Sergio Ramírez Y Los Fantasmas De La Construcción Nacional Nicaragüense, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

Este artículo analiza la novela Mil y una muertes del nicaragüense Sergio Ramírez con un énfasis en los temas de lo fantasmal, fotografía e identidad nacional. Partiendo de un cuestionamiento de la “internacionalización”de la temática novelística de Ramírez, este artículo describe cómo el personaje principal de la novela, el fotógrafo Castellón, evoca fracasos personales y estéticos que por otra parte alumbran condiciones de i n f aciudadanía de cuerpos sujetos a la merced del estado y situados al borde de la catástrofe. A l mismo tiempo, la frustración vital de Castellón es eco de una frustración simbólica más amplia, la …

Ancres Invisibles, Jimia Boutouba

Modern Languages & Literature

Cet article se propose d’examiner la manière dont Invisibles (2011) de Nasser Djemaï confère une présence scénique aux vieux immigrés maghrébins qui ont toujours vécu à l’ombre des regards et des consciences. Présence spectrale, ils hantent de leur vieillesse les foyers, errent dans les cafés, se posent sur les bancs publics sans que personne ne les voie. En particulier, cet article examine la manière dont cette pièce inscrit en plein le risque de la perte de l’histoire, et la fantomisation de l’humain ; comment elle fait surgir un rapport nouveau à l’espace, à l’histoire et au présent, en mettant en …

The Moudawana Syndrome: Gender Trouble In Contemporary Morocco, Jimia Boutouba

Modern Languages & Literature

The present article examines the way Zakia Tahiri’s film Number One (2009) foregrounds a renewed understanding of gender and gender relations in contemporary Morocco, especially in the wake of the New Family Code Reform (Moudawana), which has revolutionized women’s status by increasing their power in the private as well as the public spheres. It centers not on the oft-studied subject of women and the regulation of femininity in Arab countries, but on the complex relationship between masculinity and performance, highlighting the sociocultural norms that have shaped and affected the performance of masculinity in Arabo-Muslim contexts. In particular, this study examines …

Face Work In Spanish Language Service Encounters Between Native And Nonnative Speakers In The United States, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

Linguistic politeness plays an important role in the opinions people form of one another, especially when it offers one of the few clues an individual may have of his or her interlocutor’s disposition, as is the case in anonymous, first-time service encounters. Face is a fundamental concept in politeness theory. To borrow a summary from Callahan (2011):

Positive face refers to the desire to be liked and appreciated, while negative face refers to the desire to be unimpeded (Brown and Levinson 1987). Positive and negative face are often characterized as corresponding to the dichotomies of involvement vs. independ- ence, intimacy …

Requests For Money On Public Transportation: Saving Face For Speaker And Hearers, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

This paper examines the verbal mitigators present in requests uttered by twenty panhandlers on the New York City subway. The research questions were: (1) What types of external and internal verbal mitigators characterize panhandlers’ requests on the New York City subway? (2) Are there any requests without verbal mitigation? (3) What patterns do reasons given for the requests follow? (4) How do panhandlers use words to mitigate the threat to their own face that begging occasions? By observing norms for showing respect for one’s interlocutors, the panhandler creates an image of a self-respecting individual who believes that hearers also owe …

La Posthibdridez Fronteriza En La Narrativa De Heriberto Yépez, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

No abstract provided.

Les Enfants De L’Ombre: Dalila Kerchouche. Leila: Avoir Dix-Ans Dans Un Camp De Harkis, Jimia Boutouba

Modern Languages & Literature

Dans son roman, Leila : Avoir 17 ans dans un camp de harkis, Dalila Kerchouche retrace le parcours de ceux dont la jeunesse fut passée/gâchée dans les camps de la relégation. À travers le regard blessé d’une adolescente de 17 ans, on découvre ce que l’histoire officielle a voulu couvrir du manteau de l’oubli : l’arrivée précipitée des harkis et leurs familles en France, leur dur quotidien dans les camps en marge de la communauté nationale, leur dépouillement, les humiliations, les souffrances, les folies et une gestion étatique aussi choquante qu’incohérente. Le présent article examine la portée individuelle et collective …

Pre-Imposition Vs. In Situ Negotiation Of Group And Individual Identities: Spanish And English In Us Service Encounters, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

This paper examines the supposed opposition between essentialist or positivist approaches to identity—which categorize group and individual members by a priori properties of sex, race, ethnicity, and native speakerhood—and constructionism, which views such properties as relational and negotiable. Even when categories such as sex, race, ethnicity, and native speakerhood are considered to have been imposed a priori, there nonetheless persists a general recognition that these are at least to some extent social constructs—if not the categories themselves, the ideas we have about them. Using data from previous empirical work in Spanish and English code-choice in US service encounters, this paper …

Italianization Of Emigration To Canada: Or, What Is The Role Of The Italies Outside Of Italy?, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

In Migrancy, Culture, Identity Iain Chambers observes that present-day critical thought frequently adopts metaphors of movement, migration, maps, travel, and sometimes tourism to describe and explain the encounter with people and cultures that the European rationale is no longer able to domesticate in an era of increasing globalization. Chambers himself uses the metaphor of journey to represent this encounter and, taking on Said' s reflections on exile and his idea that homes are always provisional, 1 he states that the questions we meet en route displace our terms of reference, which are the certainty of the point of departure and …

Workplace Requests In Spanish And English: A Case Study Of Email Communication Between Two Supervisors And A Subordinate, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

This paper examines the mitigation in email communication between two supervisors and a subordinate, to investigate how this feature differs in requests written in English and Spanish by native speakers of each language. Forty-seven emails were harvested from a span of three and a half years. The Spanish-speaking supervisor's requests contained fewer mitigation devices of every type. Although the requests written in Spanish contained less mitigation, this does not mean that this supervisor's email communication was devoid of facework. On the contrary, his use of imperatives and other direct strategies may have been intended as a form of positive politeness. …

Asking For A Letter Of Recommendation In Spanish And English: A Pilot Study Of Face Strategies, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

Linguistic politeness plays an important role in the opinions people form of one another, especially when an individual has little other knowledge of an interlocutor, as is often the case in relationships between professors and students. Positive face refers to the desire to be liked and appreciated; negative face refers to the desire to be unimpeded. Positive and negative face are often characterized as corresponding to the dichotomies of involvement vs. independence, intimacy vs. distance, and solidarity vs. deference. An action or utterance that goes against one’s need for appreciation, in the case of positive face, or need for autonomy, …

Transatlantic Fuentes: Between ‘The Two Shores’ Of Pluriculturality And Glossocentrism, Alberto Ribas-Casasayas

Modern Languages & Literature

The cultural program that Jerónimo de Aguilar pronounces at the end of Carlos Fuentes's short story “The Two Shores” appears to be inconsistent with the fundamentals of democratic liberalism and multiculturalism upon which they are ostensibly based. Furthermore, cultural visions like those in “The Two Shores” lend signifying imagery and empower cultural institutions, the media, and political authorities to exert symbolic violence upon minorities, thereby negating the multiculturalism that such visions claim to be promoting. El programa cultural que Jerónimo de Aguilar pronuncia al final del cuento “Las dos orillas” de Carlos Fuentes parece inconsistente con los fundamentos del liberalismo …

Southern Encounters In The City: Reconfiguring The South From The Liminal Space, Eveljn Ferraro

Modern Languages & Literature

In Il pensiero meridiano, sociologist Franco Cassano claims that the cultural autonomy of the South hinges upon a radical redefinition of the relationship between South and North. Dominant representations of the South as a “not-yet North”1 (Cassano viii), always imperfectly mimicking a more advanced North, found themselves on the idea of a linear transition from backwardness to development where the differences are often reduced to a matter of time. If Gramsci, in The Southern Question, deconstructed the Italian North/South binarism by suggesting potential alliances among non-dominant groups (namely, Northern workers and Southern peasants), Cassano proposes a spatial rethinking of the …

U.S. Latinos’ Use Of Written Spanish: Realities And Aspirations, Laura Callahan

Modern Languages & Literature

This paper reports on an investigation of writing in Spanish in the lives of U.S. Latinos. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with informants recruited from among students and former students of high school and college Spanish courses. The interviews were transcribed and coded for concepts and emergent themes (Rubin & Rubin, 2005; Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Some themes that emerged relate to what U.S. Latinos do with written Spanish and what they would like to be able to do; other themes include classroom experiences, extra-academic avenues of acquisition, the social position of varieties of Spanish, language maintenance, and intergenerational loss. …