Melina V. Vizcaíno-Alemán

Dr. Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán holds a PhD in American Studies with concentrations in race, class and ethnicity.  Her research and published writings focus on the cultural and literary history of the Southwest, ethnic American literature and Chicana/o studies.  Her work deals with specifically the concept of Southwestern critical regionalism, an aesthetic practice and comparative methodology with the potential to bridge the identity and politics of Anglo and Mexican American writers and cultural workers of the twentieth-century Southwest.  Her teaching pedagogy is interdisciplinary and focuses on twentieth-century American literature, regionalism, and Chicano/a cultural studies, with attention to identity formation and the politics of representation.

Gender and Place in Chicana/o Literature: Critical Regionalism and the Mexican American Southwest

This book is a study of gender and place in twentieth-century Chicana/o literature and culture, covering the early period of regional writing to contemporary art. Remapping Chicana/o literary and cultural history from the critical regional perspective of the Mexican American Southwest, it uncovers the aesthetics of Chicana/o critical regionalism in the writings of Cleofas Jaramillo, Fray Angélico Chávez, Elena Zamora O’Shea, and Jovita González. In addition to bringing renewed attention to contemporary writers like Richard Rodriguez and introducing the work of Chicana artist Carlota d.Z. EspinoZa, the study also revisits the more recognized work of Américo Paredes, Mario Suárez, Mary Helen Ponce, and Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales to reconsider the aesthetics of gender and place in Chicana/o literature and culture. Buy this book Amazon.com | University Bookstore