Ana Patricia Rodríguez
Associate Professor, School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Affiliate Associate Professor, American Studies
Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese
Affiliate Faculty, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center
aprodrig@umd.edu
2215E Jiménez Hall
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Research Expertise
Central America
Diaspora
Latinx Studies
Literary Theory
Ana Patricia Rodríguez is associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and U.S. Latina/o Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches courses in Latin American, Central American, and U.S. Latina/o literatures and cultures. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests include Central American and U.S. Latina/o literatures and cultures; Central American cultural production in the U.S.; transnational migration and cultural production; diaspora studies; violence and postwar/trauma studies; gender studies; U.S. Latina/o popular culture; community-based research; and Latina/o education (K-16).
Professor Rodríguez has published numerous articles on the cultural production of Latinas/os in the United States and Central Americans in the isthmus and in the wider Central American diaspora. Her books include De la hamaca al trono y al más allá: Lecturas críticas de la obra de Manlio Argueta (co-edited with Linda J. Craft and Astvaldur Astvaldsson; San Salvador: Universidad Tecnológica, 2013) and Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures (University of Texas Press, 2009).
Professor Rodríguez was elected President of the Latina/o Studies Association (LSA) (2017-2019) and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Smithsonian Latino Gallery, Washington History, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), and Casa de la cultura de El Salvador (Washington, D.C.).
Community Engagement Projects
Please visit my site for highlights of my Community Engagement Projects. Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities
Books
Rodríguez, Ana Patricia. Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0292723481 [original edition]
Rodríguez, Ana Patricia (with Craft, Linda J. and Astvaldur Astvaldsson), ed. De la hamaca al trono y al más allá: Lecturas críticas de la obra de Manlio Argueta. San Salvador: Universidad Tecnológica, 2013. ISBN 978-9992321935 [original edition]
Articles in Books and Refereed Journals (Selected)
- “Becoming ‘Wachintonians’: Salvadorans in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area,” Washington History: A Publication of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. 28.2 (Fall 2016): 3-12.
- “Diasporic Reparations: Repairing the Social Imaginaries of Central America in the Twenty-First Century.” Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, Special issue on Centroamericanidades. Ed. Arturo Arias. 37.2 (Summer 2013): 27-43.
- “Genealogías transnacionales: De Máximo Soto Hall a Francisco Goldman.” Revista Iberoamericana. Eds. Beatriz Cortez and Leonel Alvarado. 79.242 (2013): 243-256.
- “Literatures of Central Americans in the United States.” Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature. Eds. Suzanne Bost and Frances Aparicio. New York and London: Taylor & Francis / Routledge, 2012. 445-453.
- “Heridas abiertas de América Central: La salvadoreñidad de Romilia Chacón en las novelas negras de Marcos McPeek Villatoro.” Revista Iberoamericana. Ed. William J. Nichols. 76.231 (April-June 2010): 425-442.
- “The Fiction of Solidarity: Transfronterista Feminisms and Anti-Imperialist Struggles in Central American Transnational Narratives.” Feminist Studies 34.1/2 (Spring/Summer 2008): 199-226.
- “Where the Monsters Are: Margaret Millar and the ‘Mexican Problem.’” Clues: A Journal of Detection 25.3 (Spring 2007): 21-32.
- “Sueños de un callejero: The University, the CASA, and the Streets of Salvadoran Transmigrant Communities in the Langley Park Area.” Journal of Latino-Latin American Studies 2.2 (Winter 2006): 48-61.
- “The Evidence of Testimonio: The Return of the Maya.” Community College Humanities Review 24 (Fall 2003): 67-80.
- “Refugees of the South: Central Americans in the U.S. Latino Imaginary.” American Literature: Special Issue on Violence, the Body, and “the South.” Eds. Houston A. Baker and Dana D. Nelson. 73.2 (June 2001): 386-412.
Keynotes, Invited Talks, and Refereed Presentations (Selected)
- Keynote, “Diasporic Returns in the Americas: Homeland and (Post)Memory in U.S. Central American / Latina Writing.” 13th Conference on the Americas, “Borders and Contact Zones in the Americas,” Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, March 20-21, 2015.
- Keynote, "De otras lenguas / Of Other Tongues: Ruptura e interlingualidad en la poesía de la diáspora salvadoreña,” 4o Coloquio estudiantil sobre lengua, literatura y creación literaria en la frontera, Department of Modern Languages and Literature, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX, Dec. 5-6, 2013.
- Keynote, "'Los 30': Documenting Thirty Years of the Salvadoran Diaspora, 1980-2010,” 10th Ohio Latin Americanists Conference, Bowling Green State Univ, Bowling Green, OH, Feb. 19, 2011.
- “Liberty Pursued: Central American Child Migration, Student Activism, and Rapid Responses,”
- Panel “Liberty Crack’d,” Modern Language Association (MLA) Conference, Philadelphia, PA, Jan. 5-8, 2017.
- “Digital Storytelling for Social Justice: Displacements of Family and Home” Performative Workshop, American Studies Association (ASA) Conference, Denver, CO, Nov. 19, 2016.
- “Avocado Dreaming: Salvadoran Diaspora, Nostalgia, and Hybridity,” Expanding Latinidad, Emerging Diasporic Communities in Latino USA, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL May 20, 2016.
- “’Entre Mundos/Between Worlds’: Memory-making in the Digital Stories of the Salvadoran Diaspora,”
- 75th Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting (SfAA), Pittsburgh, PA, March 24-28, 2015.
- “Central Americans Were Never Invisible: Digital Stories of the Salvadoran Migration,” Panel “Pa’lante: Envisioning Latina/o Scholarship and Pedagogies for the 21st Century,” Latina/o Studies Conference, (LSA) Chicago, IL, July 17-19, 2014.“Forgetting and Remembering: Diasporic Memories of the Guatemalan Civil War,”
- Panel “Memory and Violence in the Literature of the Latina/o Diaspora,” Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Chicago, IL, May 21-24, 2014.
- “Central American Cultural Contact Zones: Shifting the Lens.” Foreign Service Institute (FSI), George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, United States Department of State, Arlington, VA, March 6, 2015.
- “Traumatic Voyages: War, Diaspora, and Central American Immigration on Film,” Graduate Retention Enhancement at TAMIU (GREAT), Title V Promoting Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) Program, Texas A&M International Univ (TAMIU), Laredo, TX, Nov. 8, 2013.“Filling in the Gaps: (Post)memory and Haunting in the Central American Diaspora,” Symposia From Coalitions to Comparativism: Practicing Latina/Chicana Studies and Asian/American Studies Now, English Department, University of California, Berkeley, Oct. 25, 2013.
Grants (Selected)
NEH Access Grant for “Home Stories” (digital storytelling project that empowers migrant youth to create and share their stories with the wider public), Co-PIs Ana Patricia Rodríguez and Sheri Parks, Center for Synergy, ARHU, UMD, 2017-2020. ($100,000.00)
“Spanish Heritage Language Research Center, ”New Directions Innovation Seed Grant (DRIF), College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU), UMD, 2014-2015. PI Ana Patricia Rodríguez, Co-PIs Manel Lacorte & Evelyn Canabal-Torres. ($5,000.00)
Foxworth Creative Enterprise Initiative Curriculum Development Grant, “SPAN408i Latina/o Transmigration & Transnationalism,” College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU), UMD, 2014. ($6,000.00)
Fellowship, NEH/CCHA (National Endowment for the Humanities/Community College Humanities Association) Summer Institute “The Maya World: Cultural Continuities and Change in Guatemala, Chiapas and Yucatán,” June 23-August 3, 2002. (International and Local Travel, Accommodations, and Institute Expenses Covered)
Courses Taught (Selected)
SPAN 798Z U.S. Latina/o Diasporas (Graduate course); SPAN 408G Northern Triangle: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras;
SPAN 408X Central American Diasporas;
SPAN 408L Latina/o Communities and Language Struggles;
SPAN 408i Latino/a Transmigration & Transnationalism (El Salvador);
SPAN 361 Latin American Literatures and Cultures I: From Pre-Columbian to Colonial Times;
SPAN 303 Approaches to Cultural Materials in the Hispanic World;
SLLC 299P Engaging "Glocal" Communities and Languages
External Service and Consulting (Selected)
Advisory Board Member, Smithsonian Latino Gallery, Smithsonian Latino Center, Washington, D.C., 2017-Present.
Board Member, CARECEN (Latino Resource Center), Washington, D.C., 2015-Present.
Consulting Scholar, Los 30, Performance Project by Artist and Community Activist Quique Avilés, Sponsored by District of Columbia Humanities Council, Washington, D.C., 2010.
Member, PURs (Partners Urban Research), CoRAL Network (Community Research and Learning Network) / Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service, Georgetown University, 2004-05.
Awards, Honors and Recognition (Selected)
- Faculty “Making a Difference” Award, Office of Community Engagement, UMD, 2016. Maryland-DC Campus Compact’s Alan G. Penczek Service-Learning Faculty Award, 2015-16.
- Outstanding Faculty Award, Office of Multiethnic Student Education (OMSE), UMD, 2012.Outstanding Mentor to a McNair Scholar (José Centeno-Meléndez), The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Summer Research Institute, UMD, 2010.
- Lilly-Center for Teaching Excellence Teaching Fellowship, UMD, 2001-02. ($3,000.00)Community Engagement ProjectsPlease visit my Wix site for highlights of my Community Engagement Projects.
Awards & Grants
College of Arts & Humanities 2021 Faculty Service Award, ARHU, UMD
College of Arts & Humanities 2021 Faculty Service Award in the category of service in support of the college’s mission and vision
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…Nominated by faculty and students of the Latin American Studies Center (LASC), the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC), and the Departments of English and American Studies
Read More about College of Arts & Humanities 2021 Faculty Service Award, ARHU, UMD
Publications
Diasporic Social Imaginaries, Transisthmian Echoes and Transfigurations of Central American Subjectivities
This article examines works by Central American women writers responding to political and social violence and multiple forms of racial, economic, gendered, and other oppressions.
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…Throughout the mid-20th and early 21st centuries, Central American writers, in and outside of the isthmus, have written in response to political and social violence and multiple forms of racial, economic, gendered, and other oppressions, while also seeking to produce alternative social imaginaries for the region and its peoples. Spanning the civil war and post-war periods and often writing from the space of prolonged and temporary diaspora as exiles, sojourners, and migrants, in their respective works, writers such as Claribel Alegría, Gioconda Belli, and Martivón Galindo have not only represented the most critical historical moments in the region but moreover transfigured the personal and collective social woundings of Central America into new signs and representations of the isthmus, often from other sites. Read together, their texts offer a gendered literary topography of war, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization and imagine other “geographies of identities” as suggested by Smadar Lavie and Ted Swedenburg for post-conflict, diasporic societies. These writers’ work is testament to the transformative and transfigurative power of women’s writing in the Central American transisthmus.
Invisible No More: U.S. Central American Literature Before and Beyond the Age of Neoliberalism
This chapter examines a growing corpus of U.S. Central American literature from foundational texts to more recent productions in the 21st century.
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…Central America has long been pivotal to U.S. economic and geopolitical interests and the U.S. political and cultural imaginary because of the isthmus’s geographical location. Combined, U.S. interventions, local armed conflicts, and the migration flow from Central America produce the conditions that make possible the production of a U.S. Central American literature. In their works, U.S. Central American writers such as Tanya Maria Barrientos, Francisco Goldman, Héctor Tobar, Marcos McPeek Villatoro, and poets like Maya Chinchilla, Lorena Duarte, Leticia Hernández-Linares, and William Archila, among others, not only give visibility and voice to an array of U.S. Central American subjectivities but also contribute to an expansion of Latina/o literary history, now forced to reckon with Central America. This chapter examines the production of U.S. Central American literature before and beyond the age of neoliberalism.
Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures
The first comparative study in English of transnational Central American literatures and cultures.
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…In 1899, the United Fruit Company (UFCO) was officially incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts, beginning an era of economic, diplomatic, and military interventions in Central America. This event marked the inception of the struggle for economic, political, and cultural autonomy in Central America as well as an era of homegrown inequities, injustices, and impunities to which Central Americans have responded in creative and critical ways. This juncture also set the conditions for the creation of the Transisthmus—a material, cultural, and symbolic site of vast intersections of people, products, and narratives. Taking 1899 as its point of departure, Dividing the Isthmus offers a comprehensive, comparative, and meticulously researched book covering more than one hundred years, between 1899 and 2007, of modern cultural and literary production and modern empire-building in Central America. The book examines the grand narratives of (anti)imperialism, revolution, subalternity, globalization, impunity, transnational migration, and diaspora, as well as other discursive, historical, and material configurations of the region beyond its geophysical and political confines. Focusing in particular on how the material productions and symbolic tropes of cacao, coffee, indigo, bananas, canals, waste, and transmigrant labor have shaped the transisthmian cultural and literary imaginaries, the book develops new methodological approaches for studying cultural production in Central America and its diasporas. Monumental in scope and relentlessly impassioned, this work offers new critical readings of Central American narratives and contributes to the growing field of Central American studies.
The Fiction of Solidarity: Transfronterista Feminisms and Anti-Imperialist Struggles in Central American Transnational Narratives
This essay examines a corpus of Chicana/Latina feminist solidarity literature and the production of “solidarity fictions” from a U.S. Central American standpoint.
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…This essay revisits the production of Chicana/Latina feminist narratives identified with anti-imperialist struggles and hemispheric solidarity movements in Central America in the 1980s and 1990s. Through their texts, transfronterista feminists such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Ana Castillo, Carole Fernández, Graciela Limón, Demetria Martínez, Cherrie Moraga, Lourdes Portillo, Nina Serrano, Alma Villanueva, and Helena María Viramontes, among others, not only challenged U.S. hegemony in the Western hemisphere, but also resisted the enforcement of multiple borders across the Americas.'' In the process, they transnationalized Chicana/Latina struggles, histories, discourses, and feminisms beyond the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. However, their transfronterista feminist logic and anti-colonial imperative, while appealing to transnational Third World feminist struggles and affinities, produced a "fiction of solidarity" predicated on Chicana/Mexicana subjectivities. Examining the production of many of these solidarity fictions, and especially Portillo and Serrano's film, “After the Earthquake,” and Martinez's semi-autobiographical novel, Mother Tongue, this essay seeks to shift the primary focus of Chicana/o resistance, resilience, and hybrid borderizations that has shaped many Chicana/Latina narratives about the wars in Central America and to rethink transfronterista alliances and narratives in the Americas from a Central American subjective location.
Talk
Keynote speaker: Dr. Ana Patricia Rodriguez
In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, keynote Ana Patricia Rodríguez will speak on on the topic of "Moving Targets: Central American Refugees in the U.S. Migration Landscape".
Author/Lead: Ana Patricia R…
Central American migrants in the United States have been historically identified as criminals, gang members, disease carriers, public charges, and “illegals," but rarely have they been designated formally as refugees, even when fleeing from civil wars, systemic violence, and climate change. Thus, in 2018, when then-President Trump indecorously and infamously claimed that Central Americans and other undesirables migrants came to the United States from “s-hole countries," he certified their status as an eminent “Latino threat" in the public eye, as Leo Chávez writes in his 2008 book. Under this representational regime, Central Americans during the Trump administration, if not before and after, became the moving target, object, and rationale for draconian immigration policies in the United States. In this talk, Professor Ana Patricia Rodríguez examines the discursive and legal construction of Central American asylum seekers and refugees in the U.S. immigrant cultural imaginary and the counter-narratives produced in contemporary Latinx prose, poetry, and cultural representations. She pays particular attention to works by U.S. Central American writers such as Javier Zamora, Claudia Rojas, and others, who “create dangerously," in the words of Edwidge Danticat (2010), as they represent the harrowing migration stories of Central American refugees and asylum seekers in the twenty-first century.
Ana is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the U.S. Latina/o Studies program at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches classes on Latin American, Central American, and U.S. Latina/o literatures and cultures. She has published widely on Central American transnational cultural production. She is the author of Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures (University of Texas Press, 2009) and co-editor (with Linda J. Craft and Astvaldur Astvaldsson) of De la hamaca al trono y al más allá: Lecturas críticas de la obra de Manlio Argueta (San Salvador: Universidad Tecnológica, 2013). She is completing book manuscripts on trauma and (post)memory in the Central American diasporas, and Central American cultural production in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia). She dedicates a great part of her time to working on community-based projects with the local immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.