features experimental, alternative, independent, and underground films from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain that engage with ecological, racial, and material precarity. The works selected depict and distort, exhibit and expose the extreme conditions facing communities and landscapes of their home territories, as well as the precarious quality of the production and preservation of experimental film.
Congratulations to Professor Marianna Chodorowska-Pilch on the publication of her article "¿La sobregeneralización de lo siento por los alumnos angloparlantes?: Estudio preliminar" in the journal Pragmática Sociocultural, Revista Internacional sobre Lingüística del Español. This journal "is a biannual publication that encourages the international dissemination of research results on theoretical and applied linguistics, focusing on social and cultural aspects of the Spanish language in all its forms and expressions."
Alumna Emily Jetter ('16, minor in Spanish, SUSA president 2013-2014) provides a compelling description of her studies in Cuba under the guidance of LAIC Associate Professor Ivette Gomez. Featured in the May 2020 issue of the USC Dornsife Experiential Learning Newsletter, Jetter discusses how study abroad in Spain and Brazil impacted her life and her current experience as a medical school student. Professor Gomez also shares how she developed the course Visualizing Cuba: Arts, Politics and Society in Today’s Cuba, popularly known as the Cuba Maymester. Among other things, Professor Gomez believes that, in addition to a more nuanced appreciation of Cuban culture, experiential learning provides students with a unique opportunity for self-discovery.
The work of professor Sarah Portnoy´s has recently been featured in local and national news media outlets. The documentary Abuelita's Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories, produced by Professor Portnoy and directed by filmmaker Ebony Bailey was featured in Noticias Telemundo on October 4, 2022. Also featured in a national show, the multimedia exhibit, with the same name as the documentary, that she curated at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes was showcased by the Today Show (NBC) on October 9 and by our local radio station KPCC-LAist on June 24, 2022. Finally, USC News wrote an article on the impact of her recent work titled "How L.A.’s culinary roots lie in its Mexican tradition" on September 30 and another article on October 4 on the screening of the documentary at USC Fisher Museum. Congratulations Sarah!
"LA veo" LAIC's Second Annual Photo Contest invited students to walk around the city with new eyes, and take pictures of interesting signs, celebrations, buildings, foods that reveal the Latin American and Spanish presence and influence in our city.
Take a minute to enjoy some of the best images. You can access the link here.
The LAIC Department would like to welcome the new section Extra en Español in the Daily Trojan. The new section publishes news and articles on topics of interest to the Spanish speaking community at USC. Recently Bianca B. Arzán-Montañez published the news report "Diversificando las leyes" on a new student organization. She also presented a beautiful piece titled "Epílogo del editor: Gotitas de amor a la lengua que me vió crecer." Congratulations Daily Trojan Extra en Español!
Dr. Liana Stepanyan is recipient of the 2022 USC Associates Award, that is the highest honors the university faculty bestows upon its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements and for outstanding teaching, both in and out of the classroom.
On November 9, 2019, on behalf of the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Dr. Goretti Prieto Botana, Basic Language Director, welcomed the Southern California Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) for its Fall 2019 Meeting. Professor Claudia Holguín Mendoza (UC Riverside) gave a very interesting plenary titled "Critical Language Awareness and Agency in Spanish Heritage Language Education" and Professor Gloria Arjona beautifully presented a multimedia show on soldaderas during the Mexican Revolution. Nathan Masters of USC Libraries published an article on the presentation "The USC Posada Project: Teaching Spanish Language, Mexican Culture, and Primary Source Literacy" given by Karen Howell, Barbara Robinson, Consuelo Sigüenza-Ortiz & Liana Stepanyan.
