Lisa A. Nevarez

Lisa Nevárez joined the English Department at Siena College in 2002. She is a Professor of English, and directs the Multicultural Studies minor. She holds a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Vanderbilt University, and a B.A. in English from the University of San Francisco. Dr. Nevárez teaches courses in Latino/a Literature, early 19th-century British literature, and literary theory. Among her research interests—and teaching passions—lie vampires, the Gothic, and horror fiction. She served as editor of the essay collection The Vampire Goes to College: Essays on Teaching with the Undead (McFarland Press, 2014). She has an article on Breaking Dawn included in The Twilight Saga: Exploring the Global Phenomenon (Ed. Claudia Bucciferro, Scarecrow Press, 2013). Her essay on Lady Maria Nugent’s India Journal appeared in the edited collection The Male Empire under the Female Gaze: The British Raj and the Memsahib (Eds. Rajeshwar Mittapall and Susmita Roye, Cambria Press, 2013). Other publications include articles in the journals Decimonónica, Romanticism on the Net, and Media History, and in the edited collection The Anatomy of Bodyworlds. She regularly attends the national meetings of the Popular Culture Association (PCA). Her current research project examines Latina identity in vampire-themed graphic novels.

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

In my teaching I strive to educate students not only about the background of and context for a literary work, but also to foster in them the ability to read critically and argue persuasively, not to mention to write effectively. Our Siena students bring wonderful insights into the classroom, and I enjoy working with them on ways to further develop their ideas and communicate them to their peers and the rest of the community

What I Love About Siena

What I most love about Siena is the opportunity to work with some wonderful students! This takes place in my classroom, as I get to know students on a first name basis through our conversations about literature, to my office when I meet with my advisees and we chat about courses and careers, and finally to other on-campus spaces as I collaborate with students and colleagues on diversity-related projects that speak to the entire campus community.

My Favorite Courses to Teach

I teach a variety of courses at Siena, and I cannot really pick a favorite as they are all so different! I teach Latino/a Literature, and through that class strive to incorporate themes of diversity into our on campus community, as well as through my role as Director of the Multicultural Studies minor. My doctoral work is in early 19th-century British literature, so I often teach Romanticism and English Literature II and I greatly enjoy those times when I can share my love of the work of Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and other authors with my students. Finally, my teaching and research absolutely come together when I teach courses focused on "monsters." I teach The Horror Novel and The Vampire, and I delight in exploring with students our culture's longstanding fascination with those entities.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

My research interests include the Gothic, vampire and horror fiction, and Romanticism, as well as Latino/a literature.

Articles & Book Reviews

• `Monk' Lewis' `The Isle of Devils' and the Perils of Colonialism
  Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net (RaVoN)
  May, 2008
• The Coexistence of the Mind and the Mall: Tension in Contemporary Humor Columns in American `Vogue'
  Media History, vol. 6
  2000
• `My reputacion precedes me': La Malinche and palimpsests of sacrifice, scapegoating, and mestizaje in `Xicotencatl' and `Los martires del Anahuac'
  Decimonónica, vol. 1
  Fall, 2004

Awards & Distinctions

• Received a summer 2009 pedagogy/curriculum diversification grant ($2,475) from the COTFD to develop the course Caribbean Literature. I offered this course in Spring 2010.
  Category: Teaching
  Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2009
• Received summer funding ($1,000) from the COTFD to develop the conference paper Defiant Passion: Postcolonial Eroticism and Seduction in Henry Brooke's Montezuma. I presented this paper on August 15, 2005 at the NASSR conference.
  Category: Research
  Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2005
• Received a summer pedagogy grant ($2,000) from WAM to develop a course with a travel component on British Romantic Women Writers. I offered this course in Spring 2005.
  Category: Teaching
  Women's and Multicultural Studies Committee, 2004
• Presented with an honorary award for Outstanding Service and Devotion to Students with Disabilities by Disabled Student Services, April 4, 2003
  Category: Service-University
  Disabled Student Services, 2003
• Received a summer pedagogy grant ($2,000) from WAM to develop a course on Latino/a Literature. I first offered this course in Fall 2003 and now offer it at least once a year.
  Category: Teaching
  Women's and Multicultural Studies Committee, 2003

Books & Book Chapters

• Gender in the Vampire Narrative
  
  2016
• The Vampire Goes to College: Essays on Teaching with the Undead
  McFarland
  2014
• The Male Empire Under the Female Gaze: The British Raj and the Memsahib
  Cambria Press
  2013
• The Twilight Saga: Exploring the Global Phenomenon
  Scarecrow Press, Inc
  2013
• The Anatomy of Bodyworlds: Critical Essays on the Plastinated Cadavers of Gunther Von Hagens
  McFarland
  2008

Presentations

• Never to Grow Old: Child Vampires in 1980s film
  2016
  Popular Culture Association Conference, Seattle, Washington
• Playgrounds in the Zombie Apocalypse: The Feral Child
  2015
  The Company of Wolves: Open Graves, Open Minds, Hatfield, Great Britain
• The New Woman in Justin Cronin's Post-Apocalyptic Vampire World
  2015
  Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Vampiras and Vampiresas: The Latina in Bite Club and Life Sucks
  2014
  Popular Culture Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois
• Renesmee and Roses: The (R)omantic Child in Breaking Dawn
  2013
  Popular Culture Association Conference, Washington DC, Washington
• How to Birth, and Bond with, the Vampire Child: An Analysis of Babies and Children in King and Lindqvist
  April, 2012
  Popular Culture Association Conference, Boston, Massachusetts
• Una Mordedura, or, A Bite: Marta Acosta's Casa Dracula Trilogy and the Vampire in Chica Lit
  April, 2009
  Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana
• "Inscribing the `Ruins': The Act of Gazing in Lady Maria Nugent's India Journal"
  July, 2006
  Romantic Spectacle Conference, Bristol Centre for Romantic Studies, London, United Kingdom
• "Defiant Passion: Postcolonial Eroticism and Seduction in Henry Brooke's Montezuma"
  August, 2005
  North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, Montreal, Canada
• "Deviant Witchery: Scapegoating Madge Wildfire in Sir Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian"
  August, 2005
  International Gothic Association, Montreal, Canada
• "`And am I now reposing on a bed of roses?': Cuauhtemoc and the Romantic Appropriation of a Mexican Hero"
  September, 2004
  North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, Boulder, Colorado
• "`A Whole Lotta Woman': The Politics of Laughing in `The Dirty Girls Social Club' and 'Real Women Have Curves'"
  October, 2003
  Central New York Conference on Language and Literature, Cortland, New York
• "`The neck of the raven': Deification and Dissection in Letitia Elizabeth Landon's `The Bride of Lindorf'"
  October, 2003
  Convivium Conference, Loudonville, New York
• "Barren Islands: Infanticide and the Failure of Colonization in `Monk' Lewis' `The Isle of Devils' and Lord Byron's Island Cantos in `Don Juan'"
  October, 2002
  Central New York Conference on Language and Literature, Cortland, New York
• "Tamales sin manteca/Fat-free tamales?: Contemporary Chicana Theater and the Politics of Eating"
  March, 2001
  Graduate Colloquium: Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Nashville, Tennessee
• "The Ugliest Woman in the World: The exhibitionism and attempted cultural recuperation of Julia Pastrana, circus `freak'"
  March, 2001
  Vanderbilt Colloquium: Culture and Identity, Nashville, Tennessee
• "Heroic Inversions: Gender, Sexuality, and National Identity in the Poetry of Julian del Casal"
  April, 2000
  Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies, New Haven, Connecticut
• "Salvaging the Bakhtinian Carnival: The Grotesque in Cristina Garcia's `The Aguero Sisters'"
  September, 1999
  Southern Comparative Literature Association, Knoxville, Tennessee