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Modern Languages and Literatures
Mercedes Mayna headshot

Mercedes Mayna-Medrano

Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Studies
Karp Hall 116
(518)388-6803
maynamem@union.edu
MLL

Areas of expertise

19th Century Latin American Literatures, Narrative in the Andes, Representation and Self-reprensentation of Minoritized Communities

Research interests

Her areas of interest are Andean-Amazonian Studies, Gender Studies, Ethnicity and
Decoloniality, especially in 19th Century Latin American Literatures, Narrative in the Andes,
Representation and Self-representation of Minoritized Communities. Some of her recent
publications include:

  • “Juan de la Rosa o el huérfano hispanizado como fachada de modernidad” in Decimonónica (2022)
  • “El ensayo y la novela de Mercedes Cabello.” Marcel Velázquez and Raquel Chang-Rodríguez (eds.) in Historia de las literaturas en el Perú III (2021)
  • “No todos los subalternos son iguales: el miedo en Herencia de Clorinda Matto” in Boletín de la Academia Peruana de la Lengua No 67 (2020)
  • “‘…porque conformes en nuestros afectos ya solo una cosa anhelamos: la felicidad…’. Una crítica social melodramática desde el espacio regional: El padre Horán. Escenas de la vida del Cuzco de Narciso Aréstegui Zuzunaga” in the critical edition of El padre Horán. Escenas de la vida del Cuzco, by Narciso Aréstegui (2019)

Teaching interests

These are some of the exciting classes that Prof. Mayna-Medrano teaches:

  • SPN100, Spanish for Beginners 1
  • SPN200, Spanish for Intermediate Learners 1
  • SPN201, Spanish for Intermediate Learners 2
  • SPN 318, (Mis)representation of ‘Minority’ Groups in Latin America
  • SPN330, Contemporary Hispanic Women’s Fiction.

Publications

- “Juan de la Rosa o el huérfano hispanizado como fachada de modernidad” in Decimonónica (2022)

- “El ensayo y la novela de Mercedes Cabello.” Marcel Velázquez and Raquel Chang-Rodríguez (eds.) in Historia de las literaturas en el Perú III (2021)

- “No todos los subalternos son iguales: el miedo en Herencia de Clorinda Matto” in Boletín de la Academia Peruana de la Lengua No 67 (2020)

- “‘…porque conformes en nuestros afectos ya solo una cosa anhelamos: la felicidad…’. Una crítica social melodramática desde el espacio regional: El padre Horán. Escenas de la vida del Cuzco de Narciso Aréstegui Zuzunaga” in the critical edition of El padre Horán. Escenas de la vida del Cuzco, by Narciso Aréstegui (2019)

- Book review of La naturaleza como artificio. Representaciones de lo natural en el modernismo, by Marie Escalante, in Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana XLIV-87 (2018)

Additional media

Biography

Prof. Mayna-Medrano (Profe Meche) is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Union College. She received her B.A. and Licenciatura in Hispanic Literature from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and her M.A. in Linguistics at PUCP. In 2022, she gained her Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA). She is the co-founder and leader of the Andean-Amazonian Reading Group, a community that discusses and analyzes diverse topics for the Andes and Amazon regions through different cultural productions.


Prof. Mayna-Medrano is currently working on her first book project, tentatively titled, Melodrama and Fear: (Mis)representing Indigenous People in 19th-Century Andean Literature. Moreover, because building knowledge in collaboration is an essential part of her working philosophy, she is currently working on an interdisciplinary project: a conference paper about the domestic servitude of children in the 19th century in Peru.

Academic credentials

B.A., M.A., Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Karp Hall

Karp Hall 120

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Fax: (518) 388-6462