Roberta Fernández
Encyclopedia
Roberta Fernández is a Tejana
novelist, scholar, critic and arts advocate. She is known for her novel Intaglio and for her work editing several award-winning women writers. She was a professor in in Romance Languages & Literatures
and Women's Studies
at the University of Georgia
.
from Laredo, Texas
. She received her B.A. and an M.A. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin
, and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages & Literatures
from the University of California, Berkeley
. Her dissertation, "Towards a Contextualization of José Carlos Mariátegui’s Concept of Literary and Cultural Nationalism," examined the role of José Carlos Mariátegui
in the early 20th century Peruvian cultural wars.
Fernandez held a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Mexican American Studies at UT, Austin; she received a Rockefeller Fellowship from the Womanist Consortium of the Institute of African American Studies at UGA to study Chicana literary feminism
and nationalism
.
Intaglio” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 2010: 52 (1): 30-40.
SYMPOSIUM ON LATINA/O LITERATURE SYMPOSIUM at UGA, Athens, GA, November, 2001.
erican Short Story (Wellesley Studies in Critical Theory, Literary History and Culture).. Julia Brown, Ed. New York: Routledge, 1997: 63-84.
Post-Modern Ethnicity. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1999.
Lands.” Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue Canadienne d’Etudes Américaines, 2000:30 (1); 92-110. (PDF On-line)
Intaglio and on Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead.]
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
novelist, scholar, critic and arts advocate. She is known for her novel Intaglio and for her work editing several award-winning women writers. She was a professor in in Romance Languages & Literatures
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
and Women's Studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
.
Early life and education
Fernández is a fifth-generation tejanaTejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
from Laredo, Texas
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
. She received her B.A. and an M.A. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages & Literatures
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. Her dissertation, "Towards a Contextualization of José Carlos Mariátegui’s Concept of Literary and Cultural Nationalism," examined the role of José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira was a Peruvian journalist, political philosopher, and activist. A prolific writer before his early death at age 35, he is considered one of the most influential Latin American socialists of the 20th century...
in the early 20th century Peruvian cultural wars.
Fernandez held a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Mexican American Studies at UT, Austin; she received a Rockefeller Fellowship from the Womanist Consortium of the Institute of African American Studies at UGA to study Chicana literary feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
.
Art advocacy
- Assistant to the Director, Mexican MuseumMexican MuseumEl Museo Mexicano or The Mexican Museum is a San Francisco, California, USA museum created to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Latino, Chicano, Mexican, and Mexican-American people.-History:...
in San Francisco - Director, Bilingual Arts Program, Oakland Unified School DistrictOakland Unified School DistrictOakland Unified School District is a public education school district which operates elementary schools , middle schools , and high schools in Oakland, California.-History:...
- Founder, Prisma: A Multicultural, Multilingual Women's Literary Review (1979–1982) at Mills CollegeMills CollegeMills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...
- Directed two major conferences: "The Cultural Roots of Chicana Literature, 1780-1980" (Mills College and Aztlán Cultural, 1981; see here for photo of the exhibit's poster) and "Latinos in the United States: Cultural Roots and Diversity" (Brown UniversityBrown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and Casa Puerto Rico, 1985).
Editorial and curatorial work
- Editor, Arte Público PressArte Público PressArte Público Press, in Houston, Texas, is the largest US publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors, part of the University of Houston. It publishes approximately 30 titles per year....
, from 1990-1994. Several of the women she worked with received national awards for their novels. - Curator, "Twenty-Five Years of Hispanic Literature of the United States, 1965-1990" (traveling), sponsored by the Texas Humanities Resource Center.
Published works
- Intaglio: A Novel in Six Stories (1990)
- Fronterizas: Una novela en seis cuentos (2001; Spanish translation of Intaglio)
- In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States, ed. (1994; anthology)
- En nuestras palabras: Ficción y poesía de las latinas en los Estados Unidos (forthcoming; anthology)
- Her articles have been published in such articles as Revista de Linguística y Filología de la Universidad de Costa Rica; Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies; and Women’s Studies
Literary Criticism on Intaglio: A Novel in Six Stories
- Akins, Adrienne Viola. “’Each of Us Tell It As We See It’: Memory and Story-Telling in Roberta Fernandez’s
Intaglio” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 2010: 52 (1): 30-40.
- Gómez-Vega, Ibis. “La mujer como artista en Intaglio.” The Bilingual Review, 1993 Jan-April, 18 (1): 14-22.
- Jameson, Misty L. “Roberta Fernandez’s Intaglio as Short Story Cycle.” Lecture presented at the AQUI Y AHORA
SYMPOSIUM ON LATINA/O LITERATURE SYMPOSIUM at UGA, Athens, GA, November, 2001.
- Kelly, Margot. “A Minor Revolution: Chicano/a Composite Novels and the Limits of Genre.” Ethnicity and the Am-
erican Short Story (Wellesley Studies in Critical Theory, Literary History and Culture).. Julia Brown, Ed. New York: Routledge, 1997: 63-84.
- McCracken, Ellen. In chapter on “Remapping Religious Space” in New Latina Narrative: The Feminine Space of
Post-Modern Ethnicity. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1999.
- Muthyala, John Sermanth. “Roberta Fernández’s Intaglio: Border Crossings and Mestiza Feminism in the Border-
Lands.” Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue Canadienne d’Etudes Américaines, 2000:30 (1); 92-110. (PDF On-line)
- Reworlding America: Myth, History and Narrative. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2006. [Chapter 4 is on
Intaglio and on Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead.]
Awards
- Three-time Lila Wallace resident at the MacDowell ColonyMacDowell ColonyThe MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
- Multicultural Publisher's Exchange award, Best Fiction (1991), Intaglio: A Novel in Six Stories
- Texas Institute of LettersTexas Institute of LettersThe Texas Institute of Letters is an organization devoted to the promotion of literature and literacy in Texas.Founded in 1936, the TIL offers awards to outstanding books written by Texas authors, or dealing with Texas subjects. The TIL also co-administrates the Dobie Paisano Fellowship, which...
(1991) - Fulbright award to the Department of English at Charles University in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
(2006–2007)
See also
- List of Mexican American writers
- TejanoTejanoTejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
- Arte Público PressArte Público PressArte Público Press, in Houston, Texas, is the largest US publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors, part of the University of Houston. It publishes approximately 30 titles per year....
- Mexican American literature
External links
- Texas Humanities Resource Center (scroll down), not part of Humanities Texas
- Texas Institute of Letters