Department of Languages

Students present their research on Federico García Lorca

Students in SPAN 3040 present their research. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)

Students Chandler Bailey, Caroline Barton, Caroline Cash, Taeylor Dickenson, Emily Grant, Ally Graulich, Blakely Holcombe, Steve Kurtz, Maeve Marsh, Clare McKeon, Nick Meyer, John Murdy, Abby Noga, Hayley Perryman, Lauren Stabler, and J. Sky Williams presented their research on Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba in their SPAN 3040 class (Introduction to Hispanic Literary Forms) offered by Dr. Graciela Tissera. The research focused on the dramatic characters, themes, and symbols. The House of Bernarda Alba was García Lorca’s last play, completed before his death in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. García Lorca described the play in its subtitle as a drama about women in the villages of Spain. The play centers on the events of a house in Andalusia during a period of mourning, in which Bernarda Alba wields total control over her five daughters. Students explored the tragic atmosphere of the play and the women’s psyche, proposing innovative ideas on the impact of authoritarianism, beauty, and the fight for freedom.

L&IH students learn about healthcare system in Spain

L&IH-Spanish students at the hospital in Seville. (Photo courtesy of Europa Press.)
L&IH-Spanish students at the hospital in Seville. (Photo courtesy of Europa Press.)

Language and International Health-Spanish majors Paris Arrington, Sydney Hamby, Anna Longaker, and Adrina Patterson are taking classes and completing their L&IH internships in Seville, Spain. Students had the opportunity to visit the Hospital Universitario de Valme to learn more about the healthcare system in Spain. They met with Rafael Aznar (Director, Center for Diagnostic Imaging), Javier Román (Manager, Clinical Care), and Fausto Rubio (Manager, Radiology) to discuss health services, new programs, and emerging technologies.

Read the press release in Spanish here.

Department hosts 45th Annual Declamation Contest

The Declamation awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)
The Declamation awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

On October 21, 2017, the Department of Languages hosted the 45th Annual Declamation Contest. This poetry recitation contest brings together middle- and high-school students from the region, who come to the Clemson campus for the day to show off their language skills. This year, 490 students from 31 middle and high schools in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina registered to compete in ASL, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish. Clemson students also volunteered to help with registration and supervise contest rooms in Daniel Hall.

Competitors recited two poems, a mandatory selection and a second selection. They were evaluated by 67 judges, who included Clemson faculty and members of the community. After the judging was complete, students and their families attended an awards ceremony in Tillman Hall. The event also gave participants a chance to explore the campus, eat in a dining hall, and learn more about the school. Past Declamation participants have attended or are now attending Clemson to study foreign languages.

Some members of the Declamation Committee. From L-R, Melva Persico, Cathy Robison, Su-I Chen, Amy Sawyer, and Scott Harris. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)
Some members of the Declamation Committee. From L-R, Melva Persico, Cathy Robison, Su-I Chen, Amy Sawyer, and Scott Harris. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

The contest’s continued success is due to the hard work of the Department’s faculty and staff, especially the Declamation Committee of Su-I Chen, Scott Harris, Melva Persico, Cathy Robison, Anne Carole Salces y Nedeo, Amy Sawyer, and Julia Schmidt.

The 45th Declamation Contest was dedicated in loving memory of Roger K. Simpson, Senior Lecturer of Spanish, who passed away on February 4, 2017. Roger served for 17 years on the Declamation Committee, and his unwavering dedication and commitment to the contest, to his colleagues and to his students will always be appreciated and remembered.

Faculty member wins interpreter award

Jason Hurdich's award.
Jason Hurdich’s award.

Congratulations to Jason Hurdich, lecturer of ASL, the recipient of the Marie Griffin Interpreter of the Year Award. The award was presented on October 10 at the Southeast Regional Institute On Deafness (SERID) conference. SERID covers the entire area of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding community leadership, personal achievement, or contributions to individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

“I am extremely honored to accept this award on the behalf of the wonderful Deaf and interpreting communities here in South Carolina,” Hurdich said. “I am very proud to be involved in serving this great state.”

Second annual International Forum for German and Spanish in the Professions

Keynote speaker Hector Ibarra. (Photo courtesy of Lee Ferrell.)
Keynote speaker Hector Ibarra. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

The German and Spanish Professional Societies and the Department of Languages held the second annual International Forum for German and Spanish in the Professions on September 27, 2017. This event, the seventh to focus on German investment in our region, was held in the Hendrix Student Center. In attendance were students from Clemson University and the University of South Carolina-Upstate.

Students at the forum. (Photo courtesy of Lee Ferrell.)
Students at the forum. (Photo courtesy of Clemson University.)

The theme of this year’s conference was “German Companies in the Americas Hiring and Maintaining a Qualified Workforce: Old and New Challenges.” Speakers discussed cultural and legal issues faced by companies that seek to operate both in the States and in Latin America. The keynote address, “Challenges of Establishing Businesses North and South of the Border,” was given by Mr. Hector Ibarra, Associated Professional with Parker Poe Attorneys and Counsellors at Law in Charlotte, NC.

In addition, thirteen companies hosted roundtable discussions with attending students to address questions about their companies as well as preparing for the job market.

L&IT student receives scholarship to study abroad in Japan

Chloe Finley in Japan. (Photo courtesy of Jae Takeuchi.)
Chloe Finley (left) with a friend in Japan. (Photo courtesy of Chloe Finley.)

A junior Language & International Trade-Japanese major, Chloe Finley, received the AIG Bridging Scholarship for her study abroad at Sophia University in Tokyo this year. Eighty-eight undergraduate students from colleges and universities across the United States were named recipients of Bridging Scholarships for Study Abroad in Japan. The winners receive awards of $2,500 to assist with their expenses while they study in Japan.

The Japan-US Friendship Commission, an independent federal agency promoting mutual understanding between the United States and Japan, initiated the Bridging Project scholarship program to promote study abroad in Japan by larger numbers of American undergraduate students. The scholarship program is administered by the American Association of Teachers of Japanese, which promotes education in Japanese language, literature, and culture.

Congratulations to Chloe!

Spanish minor recounts her study abroad experience in Seville

Elizabeth visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid, the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)
Elizabeth visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid, the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)

Hi! My name is Elizabeth Simpson, and I am a senior Health Science major with a minor in Spanish. I’ll be graduating in May, and will hopefully be going to graduate school to become an Occupational Therapist. In Spring of 2017, I studied abroad in the Faculty Directed Program to Seville, Spain.

As a Health Science major, I was able to complete courses that counted directly towards my requirements for graduation, such as a course in Hospital Administration and a course in Global Health Services Management. I was also able to complete my Spanish minor, and also take courses that I would not typically have access to here at Clemson, such as a class about Spain’s role in the European Union. Another plus about this program is that I got to live with a Spanish family that was carefully chosen as part of this program. My host family was amazing, and it was great to be able to be a part of a family. My host mom, Menchu, cooked all of our meals and did our laundry. Menchu was also able to answer any questions we had about Seville, or Spain in general. The best part is that all of this was included in the cost of the program that I paid to Clemson!

Elizabeth and classmates with one of their professors, Dr. Fernando Díaz Buiza. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)
Elizabeth and classmates with one of their professors, Dr. Fernando Díaz Buiza. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)

However, my favorite part of my study abroad experience overall was that I had so many opportunities to travel! Through the program, we took trips to places such as Madrid, Córdoba, Cáceres, and Mérida. One of the professor’s from the program led these trips, and gave us insights and information that we wouldn’t have learned in any other typical tour of these places. We also had excursions to places in Seville, like the Cathedral and the Royal Palace, where again, we learned more from our professor than we could have from a regular tour. Apart from the school trips, I was also able to travel with friends from my program to many different cities in Europe, including Lisbon, Portugal, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Chefchaouen, Morocco.

Elizabeth and classmates in Cáceres, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)
Elizabeth and classmates in Cáceres, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo courtesy of Graciela Tissera.)

Though I traveled as often as possible, I always loved returning back to Seville, because it was my favorite city that I visited my whole time abroad. During the spring semester, we had two weeks off from school because of events going on in the city. The first week was for Semana Santa (Holy Week), and it was such an incredible experience. During Semana Santa, there are multiple processions each day leading up to Easter. These processions were incredible to watch. The other break followed two weeks later, and that was for the Seville Fair, which was again an incredible experience. My apartment was right next to the fair grounds, so I was able to go and enjoy the fair almost every day. Everyone dresses up, and many women wear flamenco-style dresses.

I am so happy that I chose this program to study abroad. I was given so many unique opportunities, such as class work that counted towards my major and minor, living with a host family, and also traveling with my program. I was also able to immerse myself in the culture of Seville by attending celebrations for Semana Santa and the Seville Fair, going to watch Flamenco shows, and even participating in a Flamenco dance class. Though certain aspects of studying abroad are difficult, I believe that this program was best because first of all, the directors are always available to help in any way, and second, because it is through Clemson. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions! My email is efsimps@g.clemson.edu.

Faculty news, Spring and Summer 2017

Yanming An, professor of Chinese and philosophy, received the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities (CAAH) John B. and Thelma A. Gentry Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities. Established by Frank and Sarah Gentry to honor Mr. Gentry’s parents, John and Thelma Gentry, this peer-reviewed award recognizes an outstanding humanities faculty member and provides an annual competitive fund to support projects, materials and activities that will improve and enrich teaching in the humanities.

Raquel Anido, assistant professor of Spanish, received the CAAH Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The annual dean’s awards are peer-reviewed by the college faculty awards committee. Each award comes with a plaque of recognition, placement on the list of awardees in the dean’s office and a cash award. Her nominators write glowingly of her excellence in the classroom.  One wrote, “[she] imparted a wealth of knowledge on her other students and me about Spanish language and culture, but she also imparted the necessity for passion in whatever one is doing. She encourages her students to pursue their passions, to never settle and to challenge beliefs.” Another said, “Anything less than the best is not enough for [her].  I truly admire this desire in her. She challenges all of her students to be the very best they can be. In return, she brings her best, every day, to the classroom. Her standards are high but not impossible, and I truly appreciate that she cares enough about her students to educate them to the best of her ability, push them beyond their comfort zone and help them to discover their strengths and passions in the process.” And, from her own teaching statement, Professor Anido reminds us all of this very important message: “Teaching is a passion for communicating knowledge, for sharing and giving back what you have learned from the most inspiring readings, travels, life experiences and teachers you have had.”

The Summer issue 94.1 of the journal of Italian studies Italica contains an article by Luca Barattoni, associate professor of Italian, on the representation of work in post-WWII Italian Cinema. The article is entitled “Diritto negato, pratica alienante, collisione corpo/macchina: l’identità ferita nella rappresentazione cinematografica del lavoro” and looks at film as the privileged medium for a symbolic negotiation of work in Italian society.

Adrienne Fama, lecturer of Spanish, received a scholarship from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to study in Salamanca, Spain. She spent two weeks in July at Colegio Delibes taking a methodology course for instructors of Spanish as a foreign language.

Together with Kim Misener Dunn, lecturer of American Sign Language, Stephen Fitzmaurice, assistant professor of American Sign Language, presented “An Eye on ASL Standards” on January 28 as hosts of the first annual Clemson American Sign Language Pedagogy Conference in Greenville. This conference welcomed ASL educators from the Southeastern United States and will become an annual event. Steve presented a ten-hour workshop in February for working educational interpreters related to “Knowledge Competencies for Educational Interpreters.” This workshop was the inaugural professional development session for interpreters working in public schools across the state as part of the South Carolina Educational Interpreting Center grant awarded to Clemson from the South Carolina Department of Education. From March 31-April 2, he served as an invited moderator for two sessions at the second international Symposium on Signed Language Interpretation and Translation Research held at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. The symposium promoted the exchange of scholarship on signed language interpretation and translation as well as provided a platform for interdisciplinary research across various disciplines including linguistics, communication, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and education. He also published an article “Unregulated autonomy: Uncredentialed educational interpreters in rural schools” in the American Annals of the Deaf. This research employed ethnographic methodologies to explore how interpreters without national certification were enacting their role in a rural high school. He also provided a workshop for the South Carolina Department of Education: Research to Practice Institute focusing on educational interpreters and how to convey key vocabulary in their interpreting work.

In August William Daniel Holcombe, lecturer of Spanish, published a peer-reviewed article in Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos, a journal co-published by the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In the article, Holcombe examines how Mexican chronicler Carlos Monsiváis (Mexico City 1938-2010) utilized the concept of slumming and the term “queer” in his later works that focused on sexuality studies. Holcombe, William Daniel. “Lo queer de Carlos Monsiváis: slumming en el ambiente.” Mexican Studies/Estudios mexicanos 33.2 (Summer 2017): 272-95.

Joseph Mai, associate professor of French, published Robert Guédiguian in Manchester University Press in May. Intervening at the crossroads of philosophy, politics, and cinema, this book argues that the career of Robert Guédiguian, director of Marius et Jeannette (1997) and other popular auteurist films, can be read as an original and coherent project: to make a committed, historically-conscious cinema with friends, in a local space, and over a long period of time. Illustrated with comprehensive readings of all of Guédiguian’s films. He also gave a paper titled “Democratic practices and the Human Affair” at the Bophana Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he was conducting research on the work of filmmaker Rithy Panh. The Bophana center, named to preserve the memory of just one of the Khmer Rouge’s many victims, was founded by Rithy Panh to provide audio-visual resources and production training and support to young generations of Cambodians.

Tiffany Creegan Miller, assistant professor of Spanish, received the CAAH Lightsey Fellow award for her work on (Re)negotiating the Politics of Orality and Ethnography in Performances of Kaqchikel Children’s Songs and Poetry. Established by Dr. and Mrs. Harry M. Lightsey with an original pledge of $100,000, the endowment provides support for junior faculty members in the humanities for summer research projects that will advance their scholarship. A peer review committee of faculty has judged these proposals. Tiffany was also invited to Elon University in North Carolina on April 6 to give a talk on Kaqchikel Maya children’s songs in relation to contemporary Pan-Maya activism in Guatemala and participate in a panel discussion of the film, “Ixcanul” (2015). Both of these events were part of a series focusing on indigenous rights in Guatemala in the 21st century. Miller also was invited to be a guest lecturer for a medical Spanish class at Brown University on March 13 to discuss health care initiatives focusing on diabetes and child malnutrition in Guatemalan Maya communities. She also organized a panel session on Central American cultural and literary production at the Latin American Studies Association Congress in Lima, Perú. As a presenter in the panel, Miller discussed her recent work with Kaqchikel Maya children’s songs as a form of socio-political activism in terms of language revitalization efforts for this Guatemalan indigenous language. In early June, Miller also attended the DHSI (Digital Humanities Summer Institute) at University of Victoria.

Kim Misener Dunn, lecturer of American Sign Language, and her collaborators from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Lamar University in Midland, Texas had the opportunity recently to discuss the challenges they encountered in educational research. Typically, Deaf individuals are seen through the lens of the dominant hearing society’s perception. Unearned vs. earned privilege in higher education were analyzed, and the benefits determined. Dunn and her colleagues used the grounded theory to generate components necessary for  successful Deaf and hearing research partnerships. As a result of this collaboration, “Deaf and Hearing Research Partnerships” has been published in the winter issue of the educational research journal American Annals of the Deaf.

Arelis Moore de Peralta, assistant professor of Spanish and health, presented “Perceptions and Determinants of Partnership Trust among Hispanic Participants in a Culturally Relevant Health Promotion Organization (PASOs) in South Carolina” at the 2017 Clemson University Research Symposium in May. This community-based participatory study allowed her to identify perceptions and determinants of trust among stakeholders of the PASOs organization, at two different stages of organizational development. The role of culture as a determinant of trust in partnerships was identified, in addition to organizational and socio-economic determinants. Data gathered were used to identify types of trust based on a selected typology (Lucero, 2013) used in the context of CBPR partnerships.

Johannes Schmidt, associate professor of German, had a book chapter, “Herder’s Religious Anthropology in His Later Writings,” published in Herder: Philosophy and Anthropology in the United Kingdom by Oxford University Press in March and in North America and elsewhere in May. From the publisher’s description: “J.G. Herder is enjoying a renaissance in philosophy and related disciplines and yet there are, as yet, few books on him. This unprecedented collection fills a large gap in the secondary literature, highlighting the genuinely innovative and distinctive nature of Herder’s philosophy.  […] The second part then examines further aspects of this understanding of human nature and what emerges from it: the human-animal distinction; how human life evolves over space and time on the basis of a natural order; the fundamentally hermeneutic dimension to human existence; and the interrelatedness of language, history, religion and culture.” The “Herder Yearbook XIII” (2016) is the second yearbook that Johannes co-edited (with Reiner Godel, Halle, Germany). This trilingual academic journal — published every two years on behalf of the International Herder Society — advances scholarly inquiries into the German thinker Johann Gottfried Herder, his reception and influence. The journal presents contributions from multiple and interdisciplinary fields, such as, but not limited to German studies, philosophy, history, linguistics, cultural and colonial studies, as well the humanities in general. At last year’s conference, Schmidt presented on “Herder and the Opera: Plurality of the Senses.” He also moderated a panel on Herder and the arts. In June Schmidt visited the OTH Regensburg in Germany, a new partner university, and gave two workshops: “German Culture and Economy in the US” (in German) and “Holocaust Education in the US” (in English). In addition, he promoted Clemson as a study-abroad destination for Regensburg students. He also took the opportunity to visit the first three Clemson students studying at Regensburg and got a tour of the large semiconductor manufacturer Infineon where one of the students is currently interning. Read more about his trip to Regensburg here.

On February 11, Daniel J. Smith, associate professor of Spanish, presented “Spanish L1 (1st language) and L2 (2nd language) ‘Errors’ due to Interference or the Natural Order of Acquisition” at the 20th Annual Conference on the Americas. The conference was sponsored by the Americas Council of the University System of Georgia at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia. Smith presented an analysis of ‘non-target’ Spanish L2 utterances by English L1 speakers and Spanish utterances made by Spanish L1 speakers who are exposed to large amounts of English as their L2, differentiating between ‘errors’ in ‘non-target’ utterances which are due to interference from either L1 or L2 and ‘errors’ due to the natural order of acquisition. The analysis also made implications for the role of interference errors in language shift and for instruction strategies in second language classes.

Gabriela Stoicea, assistant professor of German, participated in the Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association in Utrecht, the Netherlands in July. There she organized a three-day seminar entitled “Liberalism in Crisis: A Perspective from the Humanities.”

Graciela Tissera, associate professor of Spanish, presented her research on literature, film and culture, “The Fiction of Borges and Cortázar in Film: Exploring the Realm of Metaphysical Imagery,” and chaired a panel on adapting philosophers to film at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association 38th Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico (February 17). Tissera’s students, Elouise Cram and Rebecca McConnell, participated in the panel to discuss their Creative Inquiry projects related to the Hispanic world through film, literature and media. Read more about Elouise and Rebecca.

Eric Touya, associate professor of French, received the CAAH Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service. The annual dean’s awards are peer-reviewed by the college faculty awards committee. Each award comes with a plaque of recognition, placement on the list of awardees in the dean’s office and a cash award. Eric also read a paper entitled “Claudel diplomate, poète, et exégète” on the panel “(Re)-presenting Claudel Today” at the Modern Language Association Conference in Philadelphia in January. The program was arranged by the Paul Claudel Society. He presented at the 2017 Clemson University Research Symposium in May. His presentation, titled “Why should STEM students study the Humanities?”, examined the extent to which the humanities are as important as science and technology and how students in STEM can benefit from taking courses in the humanities, such as literature, art, and philosophy. Eric read a paper entitled “Remembering the Great War: Apollinaire, Proust, Claudel, Valéry” at France and the Memory of the Great War: An Interdisciplinary Conference at the University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama. He also read a paper entitled “Sens, Interprétations, et signifiances musicales chez Valéry, Barthes, et Bonnefoy” at “Le Sens et les sens/Sense and the Senses,” the 2017 International Colloquium on 20th and 21st French and Francophone Studies at the University of Indiana in Bloomington.