Miguel Fernandez
Office
Voter Hall 211
Tel
(802) 443-5792
Email
fernande@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Mondays 1:45-3:00; Tuesdays 3:45-5:00; or by appointment

Miguel Fernández has been a professor in the Department of Luso-Hispanic Studies since 1995. He holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in Hispanic Studies and both a B.A. and an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College. His primary field of study is 19th-century Argentine literature with a focus on the gauchesca. He is currently working with nautical archaeologists to discover and tell the stories of shipwrecks in Mexican waters. His teaching interests include Latin American literatures and cultures; intersections between literary, cultural, and historical discourses; literature and the environment; Hispanic theatre and performance studies; and Spanish language pedagogy. In his teaching he incorporates problem-based learning into courses, in particular in the area of Hispanic theater, with students putting on full productions of dramas in Spanish. He served on multiple occasions as both chair of the department and director of Latin American Studies and also served for six and a half years as Middlebury’s Chief Diversity Officer from 2015-2021.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Growing Up Other in the Americas
Who am I and how do others see me? How do I see myself? This seminar will focus on the growing up and educational experiences of individuals from a number of marginalized groups throughout the Americas. Through novels, memoirs, essays and films from the U.S. and Latin America we will look at such questions as: What does it mean to be "othered"? What does "American" mean? Where and how does one find one's voice? What is the importance of place in one's identity? We will touch on issues of race, gender, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, and more. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

Requirements

AMR, CW, SOC

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Course Description

Latin American Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026

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Course Description

Beginning Spanish I
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of grammar and focuses on the development of four skills in Spanish: comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of oral and comprehension skills. This course is for students who have not previously studied Spanish. Students are expected to continue with SPAN 0104 after successful completion of SPAN 0101. 5 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2024

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Course Description

Intermediate Spanish
This accelerated course is designed to review, reinforce, and consolidate the linguistic structures that students need in order to reach the intermediate level of proficiency in Spanish. A grammar review will accompany intensive language acquisition, vocabulary expansion, readings, discussions, and compositions. (SPAN 0103 or SPAN 0105 or SPAN 0104 or placement tests) 3 hrs. lect., 1 hr. drill.

Terms Taught

Fall 2022

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Intermediate Spanish II
A course for students seeking to perfect their academic writing skills in Spanish. The course is also an introduction to literary analysis and critical writing and will include reading and oral discussion of literary texts. The course will also include a thorough review of grammar at a fairly advanced level. This course may be used to fulfill the foreign languages distribution requirement. (SPAN 0201, SPAN 0210, or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Spring 2026

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Ideas and Cultures of the Southern Cone
What’s in a name? A sub-region of Latin America, the Southern Cone consists of three countries marked by cultural, geographical, historical, sociopolitical (dis)connection. In this course we will approach Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay not only as nations, but as a region with extensive transnational connections. Through analysis of a wide-range of cultural products like Ercilla’s early modern epic poem La Araucana, Figari’s paintings depicting candombé culture, and films of the New Argentine Cinema, we will study aspects of the cultural identities and intellectual histories of these countries and the region. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc

Terms Taught

Fall 2022, Fall 2024

Requirements

AMR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

Hispanic Theatre
In this course we will explore a broad selection of dramas from Spain and Spanish America. We will focus on close readings of plays, considering, where relevant, their historical and cultural contexts. Emphasis will also be placed on the development of critical vocabulary and writing skills in Spanish. Texts will be selected from various periods from the Middle Ages to present day. Authors include: Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón, sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Tirso de Molina, Alarcón, Castellanos, Gambaro, García Lorca, Mihura, Díaz, Solórsano. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

Requirements

AAL, AMR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

Hispanic Performance Studies
Performance studies is an interdisciplinary field that borrows from theatre studies, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. This course offers an introduction to performance studies through a focus on Hispanic culture. We will ask the question “What is performance?” and develop the tools to describe, analyze, and interpret a broad range of performances such as plays, political speeches, bullfights, protests, recordings, celebrations, and everyday encounters.  We will focus on performance as a process–oriented, participatory, and experiential way of engaging the world. We will concentrate on the overlapping aspects of performance as/of literature (poetry and drama), as/of everyday life (ritual, identity, and culture), and as/of politics (power, activism, and social change).  We will pay particular attention to the relationship of performance to social culture, investigating the link between performance and race, gender, and sexuality.  Because the goal of the course is to produce critical thinkers who are capable of using performance as an analytical tool and as part of a creative process, students will be required to perform. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc

Terms Taught

Spring 2022, Spring 2025

Requirements

AMR, ART, LNG, NOR

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Course Description

From Page to Stage: Representing Hispanic Theatre (in Spanish)
The first third of this course will be dedicated to an in-depth analysis of selected plays from Spain or Latin America. Readings on semiotics and performance studies, in addition to other works by the authors, texts of the same genre, and on relevant socio-historical and political topics will complement our study. Problem-based learning will guide the second two-thirds of the semester, dedicated to preparing a full production of one of the plays to be presented at the end of the semester. Students will be involved as actors as well as in all aspects of production and decision-making, requiring about 3 hours of rehearsal per week outside of regularly-scheduled class time. (At least two courses at the 300-level or above or by waiver) (Formerly SPAN 0399) (Not open to students who have already taken SPAN 0399.) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2023, Fall 2025

Requirements

ART, LNG

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Course Description

Independent Study
The department will consider requests by qualified juniors and senior majors to engage in independent work. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026

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Course Description

Senior Honors Thesis
The department will award honors, high honors, or highest honors on the basis of a student's work in the department and performance in SPAN 0705. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026

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Publications

“La naturaleza humana y el altruismo en el Martín Rivas de Alberto Blest Gana: Una lectura darwiniana.” Nueva Revista del Pacífico 52 (2007).

“¡Viva el salvagismo!: The Representation of Amerindians in Argentine Satirical Newspapers during the Years of National Organization (1852-1880).” Colorado Review of Hispanic Studies 4 (2006): 127-45.

“Refashioning José Hernández Through Francisco F. Fernández’s Solané: The Shifting Political Ideologies Among Federalist Reformists.” Hispanófila 143 (2005): 87-109.

“Borges’s Fascination with Ascasubi.” Ciberletras: Journal of Literary Criticism and Culture 8 (December 2002) link

“The Capitalist Payador: Hilario Ascasubi’s Aniceto el Gallo,Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana 31.1 (2002): 86-103.

Santos Vega Revisited,” Romance Languages Annual Volume XI (2000): 448-455.