Fall 2011-Spring 2012 - University at Albany

Transcripción

FALL 2011/SPRING 2012
www.albany.edu/llc
LLCNews
Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
From the Chair
T
he last academic year was a very
difficult one for LLC. As I am sure all
of you have learned, one way or another,
several degree programs were deactivated
in October 2010. This affected the
standing of the
department and the
university as whole,
but at the same time,
it brought together
all those who believe
in the importance
of a comprehensive
liberal arts
Lotfi Sayahi
education that
does not marginalize competence in other
languages. We are thankful for all your
support.
As was announced in the spring
newsletter, the French and Russian
minors were reinstated. We have just been
informed that the Italian minor has also
been reinstated. Students can again declare
these minors. Students can also work
with faculty to declare student-initiated
interdisciplinary majors in French, Italian
or Russian Studies.
Despite the challenges, LLC
welcomed two new full-time visiting faculty,
Eduard Arriaga-Arango and Jesse Barker,
and is currently conducting searches for
two assistant professors of Spanish who will
start in fall 2012.
As usual, a variety of excellent events
have been held in the department this
fall, but I’d like to highlight two here.
In October in celebration of the legacy
of former Distinguished Professor of
Spanish, Gonzalo Torrente-Ballester,
LLC, International Studies, the University
Library, and the Writers’ Institute
collaborated on a conference on TorrenteBallester and an exhibit of his works. Our
LLC graduate students impressed me
with their excellent presentations at the
conference sessions. Many participants
were surprised and delighted to learn
UAlbany boasts such a distinguished
literary figure. LLC also cohosted an event
on the Poetry of the Afro- Caribbean poet
Aimé Césaire, on the occasion of the first
complete publication in English of his
1948 collection, Soleil cou coupé (Solar
Throat Slashed). I invite you to read more
about these and other events within this
newsletter.
As the financial situation of the
University starts to improve, especially
with the highly anticipated NY SUNY
2020 legislation, LLC will be part of the
rebuilding effort and will play its part in
continuing to offer a solid and diverse
education to all our students. We hope
to share with you more good news in the
coming newsletters. Meanwhile, best wishes
for a wonderful new year to all of you.
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester Conference
L
LC in collaboration with the Office of International Education and the University
Libraries hosted a conference to honor the life and work of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester
(GTB). Ray Bromley, who was instrumental in putting this event together and who also chaired
the first session of the conference said, “We organized the conference to restore GTB to the
collective memory here -- to remind UAlbany and the Capital Region that one of Spain’s most
distinguished authors lived and taught here. He wrote his most important works during and
after the years that he spent in Albany. He also wrote nonfiction about UAlbany as well as our
region. One of his most famous novels, La Isla de los Jacintos Cortados, is set in our region
and university. It features real and fictional UAlbany people and real local places in its story.”
Torrente - Ballester, one of Albany’s first Distinguished Professors is one of Spain’s
leading 20th century fiction authors and widely studied in Hispanic literature. His time
in Albany is noted as being the most productive time in his career as a writer. He was
Distinguished Professor of Spanish Literature when he retired. The event was highlighted
by a special guest appearance by Álvaro Torrente Sánchez-Guisande, one of Torrente’s nine
children, who followed in his father’s footsteps with a career in higher education.
Álvaro Torrente Sánchez-Guisande, son of
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, participated in the
events honoring his father’s writings.
2
LLCNews
Stephen Miller (PhD Comparative Literature- Univ. of Chicago, 1976, MA Comparative Literature –
University at Albany 1971 and BA Philosophy 1970) who is a Professor of Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M
University did the bulk of his graduate work with Torrente-Ballester. One couldn’t help but hear the emotional
fluctuations in his voice as he shared his experiences as an apprentice with Torrente. “During my secondary,
college and post-graduate education, I was lucky to have some very good teachers whose personalities and teachings
influence me still. But Don Gonzalo Torrente Ballester was the only creator of an imaginative world with whom I
studied and with whom, besides, I formed a long and enduring friendship. One of Don Gonzalo’s great themes,
taken from Ortega y Gasset and the times in which both men lived, was the fate of the individual in our mass society
of often blind materialism. As the years roll by and I have had to and continue to make the kinds of personal and
professional choices we all must confront, Don Gonzalo and such protagonists of his fiction as Don Juan, Carlos Deza, Leonardo Landrove
and the Master of the Tracks That Become Lost in the Fog continue to configure the parameters of my decision making. As a group they—and, I
hope myself--are all sincere, moral individuals who navigate a world beyond their control made corrupt by egoism and ignorance.
For those after me that choose to study Spanish Literature, there are few well-documented millennial cultures in world history. Culture in
versions of the Spanish language we still use today is one of them. While the present always forms the most vital part of our lives, one chance to
make a lasting contribution to our society depends on how well and profoundly we incorporate the best of the past into our present. Students
of culture and history in Spanish have much to learn, teach and incorporate into their personal and professional lives about humankind at its
best. Yet while celebrating and centering on the best, it is vital that the easily-rationalized worst, something humankind of all times and places
evidences sooner or later, be recognized, discussed and avoided in our own fraught present.”
Joana Sabadell-Nieto, who recently left UAlbany to become chair of Hispanic Studies at Hamilton College,
discussed her current research on Mi Fuero Interno (My Innermost Conscience), the manuscript of the unpublished
diaries belonging to Gonzalo Torrente Ballester. The Spanish novelist donated several of his manuscripts to
UAlbany before returning to Spain after his retirement because of concerns for his safety. In them he spoke openly
about the issues he felt were hindering the political and ideological environment in Spain. This was not a safe
practice during Franco’s regime as anyone who spoke out against the government of Spain was deemed rebellious
and could be killed for voicing opposition. He also wrote about his literary projects, ideas and preoccupations and
about his personal interests and worries (religious, political, sentimental and artistic). Professor Sabadell-Nieto is
working on the transcription and study of his diaries which should be published sometime next year.
Also present was Ilka Kressner, LLC Assistant Professor of Spanish, who shared, “After the scholarly presentations on his diaries, and
the session of his former students and colleagues commemorating GTB as a person and professor, the session that I chaired was dedicated to
reading passages from his novel ‘La isla de los jacintoscortados’ in Spanish and in English translation.
The passages read by our graduate students in Spanish followed by the English versions, read by William Kennedy, founder of the New
York State Writers Institute, and Professor Edward Schwarzschild of the English Department demonstrate why Torrente-Ballester remains a
key author in Spanish literature, even for those who have not met him in person: his writing is simply captivating.
For us, they possess an additional charm, especially when we encounter descriptions of our campus and of places in Albany in the novel.
The texts, together with the photographs were a telling example of how art may bring people from different backgrounds and ages together.”
Spanish graduate students read from Torrente – GTB’s work as a photo
journal that chronicled his stay in Albany played in the background.
From left to right; Juanita Reyes, Jesús Alonso-Regalado
(UAlbany Library Bibliographer), Alejandra Olarte and Karina
Walker. Not pictured is Eduardo Ramos, UAlbany grad student who
also read an excerpt from GTB’s work.
Former students and a colleague formed a panel that shared past
experiences they had with Torrente-Ballester. Left to right: Sally Lawrence
(MA, Spanish, 1976), Francisca Ojeda-Suárez Miller (Spanish Lecturer,
1966 to 1971) and Thomas O’Connor (PhD, Spanish, 1971).
News
LLC
3
Bibliographer and so much more!
D
edication to providing essential services for anyone
seeking information and research materials related
to Romance languages is only part of this bibliographer’s
portfolio. Jesús Alonso-Regalado has helped LLC in many
different ways, from finding obscure references to acquiring
foreign films, and from developing grants to obtain language
materials to holding sessions to help students with research
projects. Most recently he developed the idea to exhibit
the Gonzalo Torrente Ballester Collection housed at the
University at Albany Libraries. “My goal,” said Jesús, “was
to create a unique exhibit that would show for the first
time GTB’s connections to Albany where he lived, taught,
and wrote some of his finest works. We have the most
comprehensive collection of his work in the US. It contains
Jesús Alonso-Regalado at the GTB exhibit located in the Science
both works by and about GTB, including first editions of
Library, uptown campus.
the vast majority of his books, many of which are signed by
him. He is a major literary figure of the 20th century literature in Spain. He spent the last decades of his life in my hometown
of Salamanca, Spain. I saw him quite often while on my way to the university. It was fascinating to see a visual image of the
importance of his time in Albany, how it deeply marked his literary works. He was exposed to a new intellectual community and
literary theories, very different from the one existing at that time in Spain during the Franco regime. His time here allowed him
to make a qualitative leap in his works. Without Albany, his most acclaimed works would have not existed, especially those that
are more experimental.” Thanks Jesús for all you do for LLC and the university!
Spain in the City
T
his fall Jesús Alonso-Regalado (UAlbany Library
Bibliographer) and Jesse Barker (UAlbany Visiting
Assistant Professor of Spanish) organized a trip for UAlbany
Spanish students to New York City’s Cervantes Institute in
connection with the GTB exhibit. The Cervantes Institute,
UAlbany, la Fundación Gonzalo Torrente Ballester and
PAMAR (Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc.) are jointly
celebrating the life and work of GTB. According to Jack Ishman,
an LLC Spanish Lecturer who also attended, “The Cervantes
Institute was a great segue for those who saw the Albany
exhibit. It was a panoramic view of GTB punctuated by art and
literature.”
Per Jesse Barker, “A group of students and professors met
at Collins Circle just before 8am on Saturday November 12th,
ready to explore traces of Spain in New York City. Fortunately,
we were able to stop for coffee on the way so everyone would be
awake. Our next stop was the Cervantes Institute, located in a
beautiful indoor patio in midtown Manhattan. We were given
a tour of the library, full of movies and books from all over the
Spanish speaking world. We also saw the exhibit on the life and
works of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, the famous Spanish writer
Participants on the Spanish bus tour to NYC pose outside the Cervantes Institute.
who taught at UAlbany. Jesús Alonso-Regalado, UAlbany’s
Romance languages and Latin American Studies librarian, gave
us a wonderful and entertaining tour of the exhibit. After a
long lunch, with time to walk around the area, we met up again
and the charter bus took us up to Washington Heights, home
to the surprisingly grandiose Hispanic Society. Founded by
the wealthy New York philanthropist and hispanofile Archer
Milton Huntington in 1904, this institution has an incredible
collection of Spanish art. One of the highlights was the Sorrolla
Room, named after the famous Spanish painter Joaquín Sorrolla,
commissioned by Huntington to paint a series of murals,
which line the walls of the room. Here you can see scenes from
Valencia, Andalucia, the Basque Country and other regions
depicted in very large paintings. After this the bus brought us
back to Albany, dropping us off at Collins Circle at 7:30pm. It’s
hard to believe we did so much in only 12 hours!”
4
LLCNews
Students in Senegal - Summer 2011
Penina Faustin
W
Sciences, Penda M’Bow, Senegalese professor of history at Cheikh Anta
Diop University, Cheikh Ndiaye of Union College and Eloise Brière of
LLC (right).
A New Course!
As a result of the Senegal trip, UAlbany’s
Department of Women’s Studies and the
Documentary Studies Programs are creating
a spring 2012 course in which students will
create a documentary film about this trip
covering spring preparations, how the trip was
funded, events during the trip, how participants’
worldviews were affected and what participants
are doing now. Plans also include making an
interactive online site about the trip. Links will
be provided at www.albany.edu/llc when they
are available.
Penina Faustin, UAlbany graduate student
models a handmade Senegalese dress
News
LLC
I
had always had a desire to visit Africa so that
I could touch base with the African roots of
Haiti. After we had been there for a few days, I
began to see a lot of connections between Haiti
and Senegal. At times I felt as if I was back in Haiti
because of the landscape, the village structure, the
roads and stray dogs running around the streets,
searching for food. Hearing the locals speak, I
had a moment of what I call a linguistic truth; I
heard words that were quite similar to Haitian
Creole, especially with the use of the pronouns.
The rhythm of the language was also quite similar.
It amazed me that Haiti had retained so much of
its African language roots. I felt connected. I was
here, in Africa, finding my identity, the root of
who I was and I’m a hybrid of different places, not
just one.
Sometimes it was hard to be there, especially
Slave holding house on the island of Goree.
when we got to see the slave quarters. The rooms
were empty, but the spirit of what transpired still had the ability to affect me emotionally. I
realized that I could have been one of the slaves who stayed behind in Africa, that because
of colonialism I am who I am today. For me it was like the past became the present!
My graduate work is focused on the study of feminist life in developing countries
and the feminist voice coming out of the colonial past. I never would have imagined
that I would get to stay in the house of the great grand relative of Senegalese author and
feminist Mariama Bâ, who wrote So Long a Letter and Scarlet Song.”
“
hen Eloise Brière of French Studies completed her graduate degree work in Toronto, Canada in 1992, she embarked on
trip to a little village in Senegal helping chaperone 40 students with three other colleagues. After witnessing the change
that this international travel elicited, she knew if she ever had the chance to do it again, she would. In summer 2010 she found
herself discussing with Dr. Kevin Hickey of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Dr. Cheikh Ndiaye of Union
College a previously planned trip to Senegal that never transpired.
This summer, Professor Brière got to take 16 students to Senegal, West Africa on a three-week study abroad course in a
unique collaboration with Professors Hickey and Ndiaye. Students experienced Francophone Studies first-hand, getting to
know Senegalese culture and the Senegalese people by being immersed in daily life, living, eating, speaking French and learning
Wolof (a local language) with local families, touring a variety of different sites, and even working with nonprofit organizations
in areas related to their academic studies. Students learned
much on the trip and were moved by their experiences. The
highlight for everyone was when they arrived at Tene-Toubab
Sereer, the home village of Professor Cheik Ndiaye of Union
College, one of the coordinators of the Senegal trip. It is
located near Diakhao, the fief of the Sereer ethnic group
in Senegal. Everyone was impressed by the warm welcome
they received (dancing, drums and food) and enjoyed the
festive gathering that took place to celebrate their visit.
Another highpoint was a visit to Espace Sobo Bade, an
artistic community owned and operated by Gerard Chenet
who migrated from Haiti in the early 1960’s to Africa. Some
of their stories follow. For more pictures visit http://www.
Left to right: Kevin Hickey, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health
albany.edu/llc/Senegal_summer_study.shtml.
Dani Britt
“
Becca Cope (at right), an Albany College of Pharmacy student, dancing
with the children at Tene-Toubab Sereer.
W
hat I took away from this trip most of all was the interactions with
new people. Everyone I met was extremely nice and generous no
matter how much they had to offer. The poorest people on the street would
offer to share their food with me. Regarding the cross cultural interactions on
the beach, even though I did not speak an ounce of the language I was able to
communicate with the guys by playing soccer, much like others were able to
use music to communicate. They were very accepting of me after the initial
shock that a girl played soccer. I had so many wonderful experiences in Senegal. Going to the village and watching a wrestling match, going to the markets,
and the memory of playing soccer with the guys on the beach will stay with me
forever. If I learned one thing from this trip it’s that one really has no clue what
another culture is like until one is thrown into it. I am a History major and for
me to be able to see and actually stand in the place where slaves…were warehoused and treated as less than animals was a remarkable experience…I didn’t
know whether to comment on the reality I was beginning to see or cry over the
sad truth about the slave trade that had taken place here.”
Dani Britt pictured with a local merchant selling fish at the
street market in Dakar, Senegal.
5
6
LLCNews
Jordan Taylor
I
Ashley Fayo
W
hile in
Senegal,
I did internships
at several different
schools and
childcare centers.
I was able to see
complete opposite
sides of the
The Holy City of Touba at the Grand Mosque,
Senegal (from left to right: Penina Faustin, Eloise
spectrum when it
comes to education Brière, Bethany Reichen and Kalima Johnson)
in Senegal. From
private schools to public schools started by locals searching for
ways to education their children, the disparity between the two
houses of education was quite glaring.
“
Join LLC’s new Facebook page:
Facebook.com/uallc
News
LLC
7
Kalima Johnson
grew up on Long Island and although poverty was not something
unfamiliar to me, the degree of poverty in Senegal was much greater
than what I was used to. It made me realize how much we really do have
and how fortunate we are living in America. I have always wanted to go
to Africa. I feel like it is a mystery to the rest of the world because of the
stereotypes and stories about it. I had no idea what to expect. We were
assigned readings and assignments but no book or movie could compare
to the firsthand experience of actually going. It’s something I feel every
person should do if the opportunity is there. Our trip to Goree had the
biggest impact on me emotionally. Seeing the slave house and the condition the slaves were kept in was sort of a rude awakening. I think people
(including myself) look at history like it is just a story or something in a
different world that we are unaffected by. Despite the history of Goree, it
Jordan Taylor (left) sitting on the beach in Senegal,
has become a remarkable place; the singing, restaurants, markets and
drumming with local residents.
children turned the location into something great. I think that just
illustrates the power of the Senegalese people and the African nation!
For me the impact music has in Senegal was unforgettable! I bought a Djembe drum early on in the trip and I brought it with
me almost everywhere I went. I would find myself playing with people almost everywhere and I found myself thinking ‘Despite
the conditions many of these people are living in, when we start playing everything else in the world seems so irrelevant.’ Music
really is a great thing. It’s so powerful and has the ability to move people. I will never forget that. Senegal will forever have a piece
of my heart. I laughed, I cried, I learned and I loved!”
“
Bethany Reichen
T
he whole village
welcomed us with
drums and dancing, cooked
a meal for all of us, and
showed us their school.
We brought them school
and medical supplies for
which they were extremely
grateful. It was an amazing
night! The kids loved
having their pictures taken
and then looking at them
on our cameras.”
Bethany Reichen (right) pictured at
At times French major
Tene-Toubab Sereer with local children.
Bethany Reichen was in a
variety of situations where playing the role of translator was
invaluable. “Translating not only gave me a kind of power, but
also a kind of pride in my education. Before that moment I did
not know that I could speak French not only in the classroom
but also in the ‘real world.’”
“
U
p until I was six years old I practiced the Islamic religion since I have a Muslim father. This religious practice included
wearing the hijab, attending the mosque and praying five times a day. After 9/11 I experienced verbal abuse from
individuals who had knowledge of my past religious practices. Many of my peers would tease me telling me that my people had
attacked America. After a while I started to hate my Islamic past. I disposed of many things that reminded me of my Islamic
practices such as my hijabs, the Quran, and I even became ashamed of my Islamic father. As I grew older I realized that I should
never allow anyone to make me regret who I am. Participating in the Study Abroad trip to Senegal, a country that is 93%
Muslim, allowed me to revisit my discarded religious practices. From this trip I learned that not all Muslims are terrorists, there
are bad individuals in every religion. Going to Senegal allowed me to come back home and tell those that had negative things to
say that I witnessed loving Muslims, that there are countries in which Muslims live in peace.
While in Senegal I constantly came into contact with street beggars without shoes and proper clothing. These were poor
conditions; however these individuals had rich spirits. I witnessed poor children smiling and playing with each other, demonstrating
that they found wealth in each other’s company. The most persistent memory of me being in Senegal would definitely be meeting
the principal at de la Rue (my first internship). Hearing the principal’s dedication to the street students was uplifting and inspiring.
He farmed various days out of the week, sold his produce and then invested this money into his school. The farmer expressed that
he was once a street child. Speaking with a dedicated individual like this reinforced the reasons I should be committed to helping
children, they are the future and if you can redirect a child’s life you can redirect the future.
Just being at de la Rue reinforced my thinking that being financially poor does not make you poor. The school is not
funded by the government; their resources are limited. Students have to write on paper sized wooden boards with chalk
because they can’t afford paper. I witnessed the principal cutting paper in four pieces in order to have enough for the
students. At times the principal didn’t have enough money to buy the children lunch so they went the entire day without
eating. The classrooms where I interned had students ranging from ages six to twenty one. These are poor conditions,
however, I didn’t see poverty. I saw wealth in the children’s high spirits whose faces lit up at the sight of their powdered milk
lunch. I saw wealth in the twenty one year old student who also worked as a cook after school. I saw wealth in the volunteers
who spend their days and money in traveling to the school in order to create a better life for the children in this school. Most
of all I saw wealth in the principal who sacrificed his life in order to improve the lives of these children.”
“
Thanks to all of you who have opted to receive the newsletter via e-mail,
helping LLC participate in our campus wide Go Green Initiative!
We look forward to hearing from more of you.
Email: [email protected]
8
LLCNews
E
When in Rome…
U
Albany and Stony Brook Italian students studying abroad this summer took language classes in Italy and with the help of
LLC’s Maria Keyes and their professors, took full advantage of the opportunity to explore various Italian cities including
Rome, Venice, Florence, Assisi, Naples, Pompeii and Capri.
9
Clubs
Césaire Event
loise Brière pictured with A. James Arnold, who coauthored a new translation of Aimé Césaires Soleil Cou
Coupé (Solar Throat Slashed, Wesleyan University Press)
at the Poetry of Aimé Césaire event in October 2011. It
was hosted by the New York State Writers Institute and
co-sponsored by LLC, Latin American, Caribbean and
U.S. Latino Studies, English and Africana Studies. Special
readings were done by Glyne Griffith of L.A.C.S. and Pierre
Joris of English. The reading was followed by an in-depth
discussion on the translation of poetry in general. When
asked how he and his co-author were able to translate the
French into English in a manner that retained each piece’s originality, Professor Arnold responded that it was not an easy task
to undertake. He and his co-author had to consult with one another frequently and would often times use unequivocal terms
that conveyed the same meaning as they were better suited to the overall message of Césaire‘s work.
News
LLC
Le Cercle Français – French Club
T
he French Club, Le Cercle Français, is in full swing again this
fall. Club president Cassandra Bouzi and vice president Alex
Esposito hung the French Club banner in the Campus Center to kick
off the semester. Monday evenings the club meets and engages in
activities focusing on French language and culture. One of the first
club activities was a T-shirt design contest won by Jessica Unverzart.
Coming next is a Bal Masqué (Masquerade Ball) on January 28 in
the Campus Center that will raise scholarship funds to help bring a
Haitian student to UAlbany to study. Also planned this spring is a club
trip to Montreal. Says Cynthia Fox, the Club’s faculty advisor, “It’s
really a pleasure to be working with such a dedicated, imaginative and
energetic group!”
Deutsche Kaffeestunde - The German Table
during the semester to give language students additional practice
speaking and hearing Russian in informal settings. Native-speaking
exchange students and children of Russian emigres join Russianspeaking faculty and recent UAlbany graduates to create a bubble
of "Russian language space" at UAlbany. Sometimes the format
includes tea from an electric samovar and snacks; sometimes the
setting is a nearby coffee house. Cultural activities include Russian
films and internet curiosities, learning and performing songs, and
attending concerts by visiting performers.
La Dolce Vita - The Italian Club
I
n September 2011, La Dolce Vita spent the day in NYC to attend
the Annual Feast of San Gennaro. The festival celebrates the life of
Saint Gennaro of Naples, Italy who died for his belief in Christianity.
Club members sampled traditional Italian foods, played Bocce,
danced in the streets and immersed themselves in Italian American
culture for a day of fun and relaxation in Little Italy.
Members of the German Table gather at the university’s Campus Center
for conversation and coffee
T
he Deutsche Kaffeestunde meet weekly to discuss everything
from day to day life to German cultural practices and politics.
They also enjoy talking about their own cultural backgrounds as the
group is quite culturally diverse. Because everyone’s level of German
is different, the conversation mixes with English. Anyone interested
in trying out their German language skills and learning more about all
things German is welcome.
For their last meeting this semester, the club sampled stollen,
Germany’s holiday fruit and nut bread. Das schmeckt!
Russian Learners Club
Maria Keyes and students met with Gianni Alemanno, mayor of Rome, while visiting the Room of Flags in the Capitol’s city hall (pictured above). Students
got an educational inside view of how the Italian government operates. The mayor, delighted to see their enthusiasm, expressed a desire to return the favor by
visiting New York State in the near future! Students also visited the Capitoline Museums where they got a firsthand view of the antiquity of Rome.
S
tudents at Russian Learners Club watch the Russian cartoon
version of Winnie the Pooh in its famous 1958, translation by
Boris Zakhoder, which dates to 1958. Russian Learners Club meets
11/10 - La Dolce Vita held its first Scopa Tournament
(pictured at above), teaching its members how to play.
“Scopa,” meaning “sweep” or “broom,” a family of popular
Italian games played in most regions of Italy is believed to be
at least 400 years old. The goal is to “sweep” all your cards
off the table. Tournament winner Alex Mundo will get to play
Italian instructor, Maria Keyes, an avid Scopa player. There
are two main versions of the game, classic Scopa also known
as Scopetta (“small Scopa”) or Three-Card Scopa, and the
most widespread version known as Scopone Scientifico (“big
scientific Scopa”) which requires more practice and memory.
For more information on Scopa see http://a_pollett.tripod.
com/scopa.htm.
10
LLCNews
News
LLC
Faculty News
W
e welcome this semester two new Spanish Visiting
Assistant Professors, Eduard Arango-Arriaga
(University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario) whose
focus is 20th-21st century Latin American and Caribbean
literatures, music and art, and Jesse Barker (University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, BC) whose interests lie in
20th-21st century Spanish narrative. Several new lecturers
also join us, including: Gretchen Oliver-French University
in the High School Liaison, Mary Lou Vredenberg-Latin,
Anna Barletta-Italian, Sarit Moskowitz-Hebrew, and Lynn
Stone-Russian.
T
his December Visiting Assistant Professor Jesse
Barker will have his article, “The Nocilla Effect: What
is New about the New Wave of Spanish Narrative” published
in the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies.
I
n April Eloise Brière presented: “Du Mutisme à la
Violence Chez Marie-Célie Agnant et Fabienne Kanor” at
The Caribbean Unbound V: ‘Vodou and Créolité’ conference in Lugano, Switzerland. In summer she had an article
published in the French Review, “Ventriloquizing the
Native: Whose Voice is it?” The highlight of her summer,
however, was hosting a trip to Senegal, West Africa with
students from the University at Albany, Union College
and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. In
October, in collaboration with the New York State Writer’s
Institute, she organized a discussion and reading panel in
October titled “The Poetry of Aimé Césaire with A. James
Arnold.” French scholar, author and the co-translator of Césaire’s recently published book of poetry, A. James Arnold,
along with our own Glyne Griffith of Latin American and
Caribbean Studies and Pierre Joris of the English Department all read from the publication of the first unexpurgated
translation of the 1948 edition of Soleil Cou Coupe (Solar
Throat Slashed, Wesleyan University Press).
J
ean-Francois Brière presented on French and Haitian
relations in the 19th century at the Rochester Institute
of Technology in November. He was invited by Professor
Philippe Chavasse to present his research to students and
faculty in their regularly scheduled lecture series.
I
lka Kressner’s essay, “Ça suffit la nostalgie! Interprétations des ruines architecturales cubaines dans le cinema
contemporain” will soon be published in a collected volume,
edited by Adela Pineda and Jimena Obregón Iturra, with
Presses Universitaires de Rennes, France. Last October
Booker Prize for Best Novel of the Decade 2000-2010; a
winner will be announced in early December. Chudakov’s
widow, literary executor, and lifelong intellectual partner,
Marietta Chudakova, a leading historian of 20th century
Russian literature, social critic, and author, has agreed to
contribute a special foreword for English-speaking readers
to the English edition of Gloom. The manuscript is being
reviewed for the foreign literature list of a distinguished
university press.
D
M
aria Keyes met with Governor Cuomo and UAlbany
Alumna Letizia Tagliafierro, a former student of Maria Keyes and now a Cuomo aide, at the Italian American
New York State Legislators Conference held in Albany last
June. Cuomo came to the Italian American Day celebration
in support of Italian American culture in New York State.
she visited the University of Western Ontario, London in
Canada and presented “Ángelesneobarrocos – emblemas
del vértigo non-humano,” at the Neo-Baroque Revisited
Conference. She will be presenting “Contemporary Spanish
American Video Poems - New Aesthetics of Interaction” at
the MLA conference January 2012 in Seattle, WA.
T
his fall Assistant Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies Timothy Sergay has been on a semester’s release
from teaching duties to work on his writing and research. He has now finished a literary translation project: an annotated English translation of a contemporary Russian historical-memoiristic novel, A Gloom Descends Upon the Ancient
Steps [Lozhitsia mgla na starye stupeni], by Aleksandr Pavlovich Chudakov (1938-2005). First published in journal
form in 2000, Gloom tells the story of a boyhood and youth
among hardy political and ethnic exiles in Soviet Northern
Kazakhstan from the late 1930s to the early 1960s, with
scenes of Moscow university life of the 1960s to early 70s.
In Russia the novel was a critics’ favorite and has sold out
several editions. A French edition of Gloom, titled Anton,
translated by Macha Zonina and Catherine Guetta, was
published in 2003. The book’s literary reputation in Russia
has only grown in the years since its first publication, years
marked by the author’s unexpected and sudden death in
October 2005. Gloom is now shortlisted for the Russian
avid Wills was keynote speaker at “Written in Blood,”
a Graduate Romanic Student Association Conference
at the University of Pennsylvania in March 2011. Wills
presented: “Bloodless Coup: Love in the Heart of Technology.” Earlier that month he was invited to give a seminar on
the crisis in the humanities at Syracuse University, where he
spoke on “From the Mercantilism of Language to the
Commerce of Thinking.” He has published “Meditations
for the Birds,” in ed. Anne Berger and Marta Segarra, Demenageries: Thinking (of) Animals After Derrida. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011; “Automatisches Leben, Also Leben,”
trans. Clemens Krümmel, Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft 4, 1 (2011), and “The Audible Life of the Image,”
Journal of French Philosophy 18, 2 (2010): 43-64 (Special
Issue: Godard and Philosophy).
M
ary Beth Winn has been invited to speak at an
international colloquium on Louise de Savoie, mother
of king Francis I, in December 2011 at Romorantin,
France. She will discuss Louise’s library: the manuscripts
and printed books that she commissioned, inherited, or
collected as mother of the king and Regent of France. Next
summer, she will participate in a conference on the visual
and textual representation of justice and power in medieval
French manuscripts, to be held at the Université d’Orléans
under the auspices of Le Studium, Institute of Advanced
Studies. She has collaborated with musicologists Laura
Youens of George Washington University and Barton
Hudson of West Virginia University to produce the critical edition of the 200 chansons by Thomas Crecquillon, a
renowned Renaissance composer. The last two volumes of
the seven-volume set were just published in October 2011
by the American Institute of Musicology.
D
utch lecturer and native speaker Janny Venema recently published Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643):
Designing a New World, “a biography of one of the founding
directors of the Dutch West India Company and a leading
figure in the establishment of the New Netherland colony”
(SUNY Press website). This fall her work won the 2011 Annual Hendricks Manuscript Award which includes a $5000
prize. Professor Venema, who works at the NYS Library
shared, “it was a project several years in the making and involved extensive research here as well as in Europe. The book
offers new glimpses into the history of this area of NY and I
hope that it will provide answers to the many questions we are
asked regularly at the New Netherland Research Center.”
Comments, Feedback, and Updates
LLC thanks everyone who has taken time to write us. We always appreciate your feedback! Contact us at:
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
University at Albany
Humanities 235
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222 or email [email protected]
We look forward to hearing from you!
Join LLC’s new Facebook page: Facebook.com/uallc
11
12
LLCNews
Undergraduate Student News
The Italian minor is back!
W
e just received the news in January that the Italian minor has been reinstated. At the present time LLC students
can minor in 6 languages: French, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Students wishing to major in
French, Italian or Russian Studies can do so by working with faculty and declaring a student–initiated interdisciplinary major
combining coursework in LLC with that of another department (LLC’s website news page has details).
I
first found out about the Santander scholarship to study
abroad in Santiago de Compostela, Spain in 2009, the first
year it was offered at the University at Albany. I thought about
applying during this time but decided against it because I wasn’t
sure if I wanted to study abroad for an entire year in a to apply
the following year, I found out a few months after that I received
one of the scholarships and I could not have been happier! While
I was still hesitant about the length of time I would be spending
abroad, I knew it was an opportunity that I would be crazy to turn
down. The scholarship pays for the tuition at UAlbany as well as
the required health insurance and other fees and also covers rent
and food. As far as Europe goes, Santiago de Compostela is a
relatively cheap city to live in. I met some amazing people from
all over Europe and the rest of the world and my Spanish greatly
improved in 3 short months. There are hundreds of exchange
students at USC (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
and there are opportunities to improve your language skills
everywhere. Galicia , the region in which Santiago de Compostela Megan Redfern in Parque Alameda considered one of the best views of the
is located, is different from any other part of Spain that I have
zona vieja (old city) in Santiago, Spain
visited before. Other than the torrential rain that the area
experiences every year, the province has some wonderful characteristics that make it a very unique part of Spain. The food was fantastic.
Every visitor needs to try pulpo (octopus), at least once while there. The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is breathtaking and there
is even an option to do a rooftop tour. Another important part of the city is the number of peregrinos (pilgrims) that come to visit each
year. Santiago de Compostela is a famous pilgrimage site and there are thousands of people who still walk its paths. As for the classes,
I enrolled in classes with native Spanish speakers and I also continue to study French. Next semester, I plan on looking for work as an
English teacher for my days off. It’s a good way to start gaining experience in teaching. Learning English in this city is surprisingly easier
than trying to learn Galician. It’s the national language of the Galician region and is one of many Spanish languages spoken in Spain.
The first three months have gone by so fast and it seems like one semester would not be enough time to learn and experience everything
that Santiago de Compostela has to offer. It also gives me more time to travel to other fabulous countries in the EU!” - Meghan Redfern
“
C
ongratulations to French major/Spanish minor Pamela Alvarado whose abstract “Variation and Maintenance of Spanish in
Colorado: The Case of Fort Lupton” was accepted for presentation at the Undergraduate Conference on Language Variation
and Language Contact in March 2012 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also received a scholarship from
the conference to cover travel expenses. FALL 2011/SPRING 2012
News
LLC
13
Translating, a different experience
T
ranslating a novel is a completely different experience from reading one. This was the first thing French and
Chinese double major Bethany Reichen learned while working on translating Malika Mokeddem’s N’zid from
French into English, and it would continue to strike her throughout the process. “In translating, words suddenly
include all of their meanings, and each of their meanings is surrounded by feeling and experience. A word is no longer
just its meaning, but rather everything it is and everything it can be all at once, so that you must decide not only how
to define and translate it, but also how to make it understandable to you.” The project, part of her coursework for a
French Honors Thesis taught by Professor Susan Blood, brought Bethany new levels of understanding in the process
of translation and highlighted how acutely both meaning and context influence target language word choice.
Graduate Student News
A
lice Krause attended the July 7-August 2, 2011 Linguistic Institute of the
Linguistic Society of America. Held every two years, the Institute took place at the
University of Colorado at Boulder. Classes, lectures, workshops, and mini-conferences
were given by well-known international linguists such as Jacqueline Toribio of UT
Austin, Douglas Pulleyblank and Diane Ohala of the University of Arizona and many
more. Alice took four courses and focused on phonology. “Contact Spanish in the US,”
one of the most memorable classes, was co-taught by Spanish linguist Jacqueline Toribio
and French linguist Barbara Bullock (both from UT Austin). “The Institute has really
inspired me to finish my dissertation and explore new areas of research. It was a busy
month with attending classes and lectures and writing papers, but I also had some time
to go to Rocky Mountain National Park and check out festivals and restaurants in
downtown Boulder.”
Alice Krause, Spanish graduate
student, in the Rockies
Z
ahir Mumin published “la docencia de las estructuras sintácticas del verbo gustar: el presente y el pasado.” in the
Revista de Investigación Lingüística (2010). The article examines the intransitive complexity of verbs like gustar
in different contextual situations. He also published “Clearing up Native English-speaking Students’ Semantic and
Morphosyntactic Confusion with Spanish por and para” in the Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching (2011). The
article proposes a simplified resolution for helping students understand how the Spanish prepositions por and para are
correctly used in dissimilar contexts.
A
lejandra Olarte, who is currently ABD will present two papers in March 2012 at the Northeastern MLA Convention
in Rochester NY. The first, “Espacios conquistados en El país de la canela de William Ospina” (Conquered Spaces
in Cinnamon Country by William Ospina”) will be presented at a panel and the second, “Realismo mágico y Borges”
(“Magical Realism and Borges”) will be presented in a roundtable setting.
D
anielle Jouët-Pastré earned her French doctorate in spring with her dissertation, “Récits de filiation: étude de
trois perspectives différentes dans la literature québécois econtemporaine.” Her research compares the evolution of
three authors: Ying Chen, Sérgio Kokis and Naim Kattan whose novels demonstrate new forms of identification through
biological markers (filiation) of culture based on choice rather than heritage (affiliation).
14
LLCNews
Alumni News
H
eather Hart, who graduated in May 2011
with her French BA, currently works in
the office of Councilman Mathieu Eugene of
the 40th Council District, in New York City.
“I started on July 25th. I sent out my resume
to a few different places that were hiring that
I had heard about either by word of mouth
or by online postings and was very happy to hear back from the
Councilman's office in June.” Her knowledge of French allows her to
communicate with the councilman’s francophone constituency on a
daily basis. K
evin Kanarek studied English and
French at UAlbany. After graduating
in 1978, he lived and worked in Paris for five
years as a technical writer and translator at
the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD). After getting a
Masters in Interactive Telecommunications at
NYU, he worked as an educational technology
consultant for Bertelsmann where he focused on media literacy,
online publishing and project-based learning. Currently he works
with Green21, a series about sustainability being developed for
public television and online media. He also serves as a freelance
web producer and editor for content-driven, social sites including
Children of the Amazon. “I still remember the courses and teachers
LLC remembers
News
LLC
15
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Manuel Alvar (continued)
I had at SUNY. They were top—notch. I was saddened to see how
the Humanities and especially French have been so drastically cut.
Slashing public education down to 'what the job market needs' seems
like a short-sighted strategy.”
F
rench minor Jesse Zucker (BA English
2011) is living in a small, charming village
called Yvetot, located in the Upper Normandie
region of France. He is teaching English at two
local schools, a lycée high school (ages 15 to 18)
and a collège (ages 11 to 14). “Right now is my
observation period, which means I get to sit in
on classes other than English that I normally will not have the chance to
work with, such as Physical Education, Spanish, German, French and
Music. I have noticed quite a few differences between the schools here
and those in America, but one thing that reminds me very much of my
high school in NY is the way kids crowd the halls in groups before the
first class of the day, so that walking down the hall makes me think of a
red blood cell trying to pass through a clogged artery!” He is settling
in well and looking forward to continuing to improve his French skills
over the course of the coming year in France.
Interested in stories from other alumni?
Visit www.albany.edu/llc/alumni.shtml.
We’d love to hear your alumni stories too.
Email us at [email protected]
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Manuel Alvar
L
LC faculty and alumni share their fond memories of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Manuel
Alvar who passed away August 14, 2001. He was hired by the university in September 1977 with
an already well known career that preceded him from Colombia and Spain. This earned him the title of
Distinguished Professor at the university. He retired in July 1998.
Professor Alicia de Colombí-Monguió- “I met Professor Manuel Alvar at an international
congress held at our university in the early eighties. I remember that he was accompanied by his
charming wife, Elena, who was a distinguished paleographist. He taught historical Spanish linguistics,
Manuel Alvar photographed by
medieval poetry, and from time to time, contemporary Spanish narrative. His academic output of
Joseph Schuyler, University at Albany
publications was prolific, both in linguistics and in literature. Graduate students came from Spain to
study linguistics with him and completed their doctorates here under his direction. He and Elena were good friends, and many a weekend
together we explored the Hudson Valley. I remember particularly an excursion to the Vanderbildt Mansion, which delighted Elena.
Manolo (as he was called by family and friends) loved good food, and we visited many a restaurant in the area. Professor Alvar directed many
dissertations, and was very well liked by his doctoral students. He was a very hard worker, who started his visits to the library early in the
morning, and produced nearly every week an article for the ABC, a popular Spanish national daily newspaper. It seemed continued on p.15
that every year he received an honorary doctorate from some university in Spain or Latin America. Eventually he became director of the
Real Academia Española, which he served honorably. During his last year at UAlbany he fainted a couple of times. I thought then that it
was his heart. I was wrong; his wife knew better, having been advised that he had cancer. She never said a word; and he did not know. I can
well imagine her hidden pain. They were a very loving couple, who had fallen in love in high school, and had been together ever since. They
had seven children, all distinguished professionals now. Manolo was a caring family man. Church, family and literature: that was his life.
He loved them and served them well. Once we were talking of a line in an Antonio Machado’s poem: “soy en el buen sentido de la palabra
bueno (I am good in every sense of the word)” and Manolo said that he would like to be remembered not as the professor, the academician,
the philologist, but as a good man. And so we should: Manuel Alvar, el bueno.”
Associate Professor Maurice Westmoreland- “When I arrived at UAlbany in 1990 I was surprised that someone so distinguished as Manuel Alvar, a past president of the Real Academia Española, was on the staff at an upstate university in New York,
thousands of miles from Spain. Over the course of his career, Professor Alvar published roughly 100 books, countless articles,
and was a bridge in the Spanish-speaking world between scholars working in the area of historical
linguistics and of dialect studies; he was the most distinguished Spanish linguist of his generation. In addition to his many research accomplishments, the thing I remember about him was his
generosity towards students and colleagues; he was a very gracious man. It should also be noted that
his wife was also a very nice lady and was herself an accomplished scholar.”
Alumna Claire Ziamandanis (SPN PhD, 1990), currently Associate Professor of Spanish
and Chair, Foreign Language Department at the College of Saint Rose, shared this excerpt from
“An Unexpected Pilgrimage,” posted October 16, 2011 at 12:35 pm (http://blog.timesunion.
com/vinoteca/an-unexpected-pilgrimage/4596/). - “I arrived a few days before my scheduled
(Will Waldron / Times Union)
pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela so that I could spend some time in Madrid catching up with
friends. As it turned out, everyone was busy today, Sunday, so I hopped a bus to Chinchon, to visit my dissertation director, Dr.
Manuel Alvar, affectionately known to his students as don Manuel.
It is quite customary to expect family members or very close friends to impact your life, while they are at your side and also
long afterwards. At other moments, someone enters your life in a different capacity, as co-worker, mentor or even bartender,
and like a quick shift of a Rubik’s cube, that person becomes one who has a lasting influence on your life.
Don Manuel was that person for me, as well as his wife, doña Elena. Don Manuel taught at SUNY-Albany, in the graduate program in
Spanish. When I started my graduate work there, I avoided his classes for as long as possible. He terrified me! I mean, really – he was the
Director of the Royal Academy of Spanish, the keeper of the language. What if I made a grammatical error? It was like taking an Intro to
Physics class with Einstein! Wouldn’t that give you reason to worry?
When I finally gathered the courage to take a class with don Manuel, I was overwhelmed. He was the Einstein of Spanish linguistics,
and he was equally versed in Hispanic literature, too!
After taking a few classes with don Manuel, you moved to an inner circle: an invitation to his
house for tapas and conversation. He seemed to know everything, and what he might not know, he read about. Don Manuel and his wife doña Elena taught me so much about Spanish linguistics and Hispanic literature, but more importantly, they taught me about humanity. The real lessons
with them were between the parentheses: when our 3 hour classes would break in the
middle, don Manuel would tell stories about people he met while conducting his research,
or sitting on the couch in their house on Rosemont Street in Albany, afternoon sunlight
streaming in the windows, a cup of coffee and a Hershey’s kiss, talking about linguistics,
about family, about politics.
Photo courtesy of Claire Ziamandanis
I sat and talked with don Manuel for about an hour today. I cannot say I have ever done
this before, conversing with a headstone. I caught him up on family news, and told him about my sabbatical research. I thanked
him for the gifts he generously gave me, something I did not have the opportunity to do while he was alive.”
UALBANY FUND
_____ CAS Deans Fund for Excellence
_____ Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Methods of Payment
1. Enclosed is a check in the amount of $_________________
Make all checks payable to: The University at Albany Foundation and indicate on the check that the gift is to be directed to the Department of
Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
2. Please charge my/our gift to (circle one): MasterCard / Visa / Discover / American Express
in the amount of $ __________
Account: _____________________________________ Exp. Date_________
Pledge Options
I/We pledge $_________________ to be paid on or before 12/31/2012.
Signature:_________________________
Date: _________
(signatures are required for all gifts and pledges)
Please list me/us in the 2011/2012 Annual Report as follows:______________________________________
Please mail your contributions along with this form to the following address:
Michael Messitt, Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences,
Arts and Sciences 217, Albany, NY 12222
For more information call: 518-437-3626, or e-mail: [email protected]
Thank You! ¡Gracias! Merci! Grazie! Danke! Toda! Spasibo! Shukran! Obrigado! Gratus!
Summer in Senegal 2011
Address Service Requested
1400 Washington Avenue, HU 235
Albany, NY 12222-0001
Albany, New York
Permit No.205
PAID
Non-Profit
Organization
US Postage
LLCaxãá
LLCaxãá
www.albany.edu/llc
ERRATA
Page 1
Torrente-Ballester was given the Distinguished Professor title when he was
hired by UAlbany and did not retire from UAlbany.
Page 4
Professor Briere completed her graduate degree work in Toronto, Canada in
1982.
Page 10
LLC is delighted to report that A Gloom Descends Upon the Ancient Steps
[Lozhitsia mgla na starye stupeni] by Aleksandr Pavlovich Chudakov was
awarded the Russian Booker Prize for Best Novel of the decade 2000-2010
in December 2011.

Fall 2011-Spring 2012 - University at Albany

Transcripción

Documentos relacionados

SPANISH LESSON PLANS FOR KIDS

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE