4620 Southwestern University: Profile

Modern Lang & Lit - Spanish

Laura Senio Blair

Associate Professor of Spanish

Areas of expertise
20th and 21st Century Latin American Narrative and Drama. Chilean Narrative, Drama and Film. Hispanic Film.

Education

Ph.D., University of Kansas, Lawrence 2002
MA, University of Colorado, Boulder 1994
BA, Whitman College 1992

Positions

Profesora Visitante
Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion
March 01, 2012 - August 10, 2012

Associate Professor of Spanish
Southwestern University
August 01, 2002 - present

Teaching Philosophy


Courses: Summer 2013

Culturas de America Latina: Argentina

Previous Courses


Research

Segundo Encuentro de Investigaciones de Cine Chileno.  Palacio de Cultura La Moneda. Santiago, Chile. 19-21 Junio, 2012

<http://www.ccplm.cl/sitio/2012/2%C2%BA-encuentro-de-investigacion-sobre-cine-chileno/>

La lente circular: (re) fundir la identidad chilena por el medio fílmico del exilio.

Sin duda, la pérdida del idioma, la comunidad, la cultura tanto los seres queridos debido al exilio ha sido la chispa de inspiración de muchas obras significativas por lo largo de los siglos.  En términos a la producción chilena pos-1973, las obras cinematográficas inspiradas, creadas y producidas en el exilio han sido y siguen siendo de alto valor histórico y estético, si no también terapéutico en cuanto a la recuperación del patrimonio chileno cuando se trata de hacer llegar a Chile obras hechas desde ?afuera? que no hayan sido vistas desde ?adentro.?  Debido a la cifra que entre 1973 a 1983, 178 películas fueron realizadas en el exilio, con aproximadamente 14% de ellas hechas por mujeres, es importante incluir en la lista de actividades fílmicas del exilio las obras de Angelina Vázquez, quien dirigió su primer documental Crónica de salitre en 1971 en Chile, luego cinco películas entre los años 1974 hasta 1985 en Finlandia.  Este estudio investigará el tema de la construcción de la identidad chilena desde el exilio en  tres obras de Angelina Vázquez, digitizadas gracias una beca por el Instituto Escandinavo-Americano:  el documental Dos años en Finlandia (1975), el largometraje Gracias a la vida (1980), y el documental Fragmentos de un diario inacabado (1983), con la esperanza de dar de conocer a la mujer tanto sus obras como parte significativa del campo fílmico chileno.


Professional Work

 <http://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/4512-spanish-professor-receives-fulbright-award/newsroom/story.php>

Laura Senio Blair will spend the spring 2012 semester teaching and conducting research in Chile.  An associate professor of Spanish at Southwestern, Senio Blair has received a Fulbright award to study and teach in Chile during the spring 2012 semester.  Senio Blair will teach a course on Hispanic film at the Universidad Católica Santísima Concepción in Concepción, Chile. Concepción is located southwest of Santiago in the central part of Chile.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is the U.S. government?s flagship academic exchange effort. It was established in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills.

The program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year to more than 140 countries. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. Program participants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.

The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For more information, visit www.cies.org.


Publications

"Driving Class Conflict: Taxis and Taxistas in Contemporary Chilean Cinema." Letras Hispanas 8.1 (2012) 21-31.

"Chilean Theatre: 1900-Present," "Fernando Alegria," "Carlos Droguett," "Ergon Wolff," "Sergio Vadonovic." World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia.  Eds. Maureen Ihrie and Salvador A. Oropesa.  Westport: ABC-CLIO, 2011.

"Residual Effects: The Recurring Theme of Incest in Contemporary Chilean Women's Narrative."  Letras femeninas 36.2 (2010) 183-198.

"A Retrospective on Chilean Film."  Program Notes for the Cine las Americas Hispanic Film Festival in Austin, April 2009. 

"Bridges Between the Divide: The Female Body in Y tu mama tambien and Machuca."  Studies in Hispanic Cinema 4.1 (2007): 47-62.

"Betwixt and Between: Finding Home Again in Chilean Returnee Literature."  The Latin Americanist 50.1 (2006): 7-23.

"New ways of thinking about Home: Alberto Fuguet's Representation of the Return."  Monograph Series from the NAAAS and Affiliates. NAASA National Convention:  Houston, 2005: 1119-1132.


Honors & Awards

Fulbright Scholar Recipient (2011-2012); American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow (2009-2010); P.E.O. Scholar Award for Academic Achievement in Graduate Studies (1997-1998); Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship Award for International Studies (1994-1995).

Groups & Affiliations

MLA, AILCFH, SCMLA, SCOLAS, LASA, ADF, PCA

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