USC.edu

Elda Maria Roman

Associate Professor of English
Elda Maria Roman
Email emr@usc.edu Office THH 404 Office Phone (213) 740-2808

Research & Practice Areas

Latinx and Black Cultural Production, Race and Ethnicity, Class, 20th and 21st Century American Literature, Television and Film, Popular Culture, Women of Color Feminism

Biography

My first name is Elda María. I grew up in Rhode Island and was the first in my family to attend college. As a scholar of literature and media, I research the effects of race and class across groups, disciplines, and genres. My book Race and Upward Mobility (Stanford UP, 2017) examines class dynamics in African American and Mexican American literature, television, and film from the 1940s-2000s. In this book, I analyze narratives about socioeconomic stratification and demonstrate how these narratives give form to social patterns intertwined with issues such as residential segregation, violence by law enforcement, underrepresentation in workplaces and in the media, and alarmist discourse against the racialized poor and immigrants. My academic essays on various media have been published in Latino Studies, Aztlán, Contemporary Literature, Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP) Journal, and elsewhere. 

 

Currently, I’m working on a hybrid collection of essays about fear, including the fear of changing demographics. Combining personal narratives with cultural criticism, my creative writing has been published in Gulf Coast Journal, The Rumpus, Huizache, and Air/Light. 

 

Education

  • Ph.D. English, Stanford University, 6/2013
  • B.A. English, Brown University, 5/2005
  • B.A. Latin American Studies, Brown University, 5/2005

  • Research Specialties

    Latinx and Black Cultural Production, Race and Ethnicity, Class, 20th and 21st Century American Literature, Television and Film, Popular Culture, Women of Color Feminism

  • Book

    • Román, E. (2017). Race and Upward Mobility: Seeking, Gatekeeping, and Other Class Strategies in Postwar America. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Book Chapters

    • Román, E. (2023). Incorporation and Disruption: What Fictional Narratives Reveal about the Realities of the American Dream. The Routledge Handbook on the American Dream (Vol. 2) New York, NY: Routledge.
    • Román, E. (2018). “Post” Ethnic Forms. American Literature in Transition: 2000-2010, pp. 17-29. Cambridge, UK: ed. Rachel Greenwald Smith. Cambridge University Press..

    Encyclopedia Article

    • Román, E. (2017). Latino Literature. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Link to entry

    Journal Article

    • Román, E. (2020). The Future of Demographobia, Latinxs, and the Realist-Speculative Convergence. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Vol. 45 (2), pp. 185-199.
    • Román, E. (2019). From walking out to walking in: Activist goals, neoliberal constraints, and the discourse of Latino entrepreneurship. Latino Studies.
    • Román, E. (2017). Rerouting the Rise. Symbolism: An International Annual of Critical Aesthetics. Vol. 17
    • Román, E. (2014). Mortgaged Status: Literary Representations of Black Home Ownership and Social Mobility. Contemporary Literature. (Winter 2014)
    • Román, E. (2013). ‘Jesus, When Did You Become So Bourgeois, Huh?’ : Status Panic in Chicana/o Cultural Production. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicana/o Studies. Vol. 38 (2)

    Magazine/Trade Publication

    • Román, E.Qualifying Exams. Gulf Coast Journal. July 24, 2024. Winner of 2024 Nonfiction Prize. Link
    • Román, E.House of Silences. Huizache. Nov. 1, 2023. Nominated for a Puschart Prize. Link
    • Román, E.Psychic Cartographies. The Rumpus. March 28, 2023. Nominated for Best American Essays 2024. Link
    • Román, E.Struck or Shaken. Air/Light. April 12, 2022. Link
    • Gulf Coast Journal Nonfiction Prize, Fall 2024
    • Society of Fellows, University of Southern California, 2020 – 2022
    • Salz-Pollak Fellowship, English Department, University of Southern California, 2020-2021
    • McElderry Fellowship, University of Southern California, 2019-2020
    • Woodrow Wilson Early Career Enhancement Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation,, 2016-2017
    • RICSRE Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University, 2012-2013
    • Vice Provost for Graduate Education Academic Achievement Award. Stanford University, 2012-2013
    • RICSRE Graduate Dissertation Fellowship. Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University, 2011-2012
    • Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation, 2007 – 2010
    • Beinecke Scholarship, 2004 – 2010
    • Future of Minority Studies Mellon Fellow, Cornell University, 06/2010 – 08/2010
    • Ernesto Galarza Prize for Excellence in Graduate Student Research. Stanford University, 2009-2010
    • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, 2003 – 2005
    • Minnie Helen Hicks Premium, Brown University English Department, 2004-2005
    • Preston Gurney Literary Prize, Brown University English Department, 2004-2005
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