Faculty & Staff Directory
Rivera, Marianela (Ph.D.)
Associate Professor, Spanish
Department of Language & Literature
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Education
Toggle Education- Ph.D. Hispanic Studies, University of California, Riverside (2009)
- M.A. Foreign Languages and Cultures, Washington State University (2006)
- B.A. Comparative Literature, University of Puerto Rico (2004)
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Specialties
Toggle Specialties- 19th-21tst Century Peninsular Spanish literature
- Peninsular Spanish Film
- Hispano-African literature
- Migration studies
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Research and Teaching Interests
Toggle Research and Teaching Interests- Spanish language (all levels)
- Spanish for the Professions (Health / Hospitality / Business)
- 19th -21st Century Peninsular Spanish literature and culture
- Peninsular Spanish film and media
- Migration studies
- Hispano-African literature (focus on feminine literature from Morocco, Western Sahara, and Equatorial Guinea)
- Gender studies
- Global education / COIL
- Study abroad
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Courses Offered
Toggle Courses Offered- Spanish (all levels)
- Spanish for the Professions
- Spanish for the Health Professions
- Spanish Masterpieces (XIX century)
- Hispanic Cinema
- Spanish Golden Age Theater
- Contemporary Afro-Hispanic Literature
- Spanish Culture and Civilization
- Topics in Humanities (HUM 2390)
- Study Abroad: Spain (Summer, 2016), (Ecuador, 2019), (Bolivia & Ecuador, 2023)
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Publications
Toggle Publications- Rivera, M. & Ramos, M. (2025). Expanding global horizons: Leveraging COIL to enrich student experiences abroad. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad.(forthcoming)
- Szecsi, T., Rivera, M., & Szende, T. (2025). Digital Storytelling: Meaning-Making of Cultures and Intercultural Competence in a Collaborative Online International Learning Project. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 9(2), 236-256. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/16283
- Rivera, M., Vega, C., Petrekin, T.-A., Castellon, M., & Ozfidan, B. (2025). Bridging the gap: Understanding teacher perceptions of emergent bilingual students in Southwest Florida schools. International Journal of Bilingualism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069251340539
- Rivera, M., & Ramos, M. (2025). Pedagogies of engagement: Creating spaces to enhance undergraduate students’ intercultural competence through community involvement. Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education, 20(Summer).
- Stork, M., Greene, J., Reyes, C., Carter, T., Dorsainvil, W., Petrekin, T.-A., & Rivera, M. (2023). Empowering educational leaders through self-reflection on incidents of race and ethnicity. Journal of Transformative Learning, 10(1), 32-53.
- Rivera, M. (2019). Women’s Poetry from Western Sahara: Hispanic-African Voices of Revolution and Freedom. Proceedings: Southeast Conference on Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Films, March 2-3, 2018: In Between: Cultures and Languages in Transition, edited by Margit Grieg, et al., (pp 197-210). Brown Walker Press.
- Rivera, M. (2014). Voces saharauis de libertad: La poesía de Salka Embarek y Zahra Hasnaui. Espéculo. Revista de Estudios Literarios. 53.
- Rivera, M. & Salha, O. (2014). A Reflection on Humanistic Values and Belief Structure of the GCC Region: Spirituality, Learning, Dominance, and Social Structure. In N. C. Lupton & M. Pirson (Eds.), Humanistic Perspectives on International Business and Management (pp. 137-49). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Rivera, M. (2013). Puerto Rican Food. Encyclopedia of Latino Culture: From Calaveras to Quinceañeras. Ed. Charles Tatum. Santa Barbara, 440-1. Greenwood.
- Rivera, M. (2012). African Influence on Latino Folklore. Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions. Ed. María Herrera-Sobek. Vol. 1, pp. 7-19. Greenwood.
- Rivera, M. (2012). Puerto Rico and its Folklore. Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions. Ed. María Herrera-Sobek. Vol. 1, pp. 929-942. Greenwood.
- Rivera, M. (2011). Romeo el africano: Encuentro con el “otro” y (re)definición de identidades en Las voces del estrecho de Andrés Sorel (2000). Espéculo. Revista de Estudios Literarios. 46.
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Conference Presentations
Toggle Conference Presentations- Beyond words: Overcoming language barriers in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Project. International Virtual Exchange Conference 2025. Crete, Greece. October 2025. (Upcoming).
- Exploring Teacher Perceptions of Emergent Bilingual Students in Southwest Florida Schools. American Educational Research Association (AERA). Denver, CO. April 2025.
- Unpacking city narratives: Inclusive City as Text for study abroad. The Forum on Education Abroad. Toronto, Canada. March 2025.
- Expanding global horizons: Leveraging COIL to enrich student experiences abroad. International Virtual Exchange Conference 2024. Virtual. October 2024.
- Plenary Session: City as Text Panel. Florida Consortium for International Education (FCIE). Fort Myers, FL. October 2024.
- Dimensiones culturales del bienestar: Perspectivas de estudiantes estadounidenses y españoles en el aprendizaje colaborativo internacional. Latin American COIL 2024 Conference. Virtual. September 2024.
- El activismo literario de Luz Argentina Chiriboga Guerrero: Develando identidad, género y justicia social en Ecuador. XXXV Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica. Oaxaca, Mexico. March 2024.
- Narratives of practice: Sharing stories of racial & cultural experiences to foster connections in educational leadership. International Council of Educational Professionals. Fort Myers, Florida. November 2023.
- A phenomenological study on cultural responsiveness of immigrant student-teachers from Kenya working in K-12 classrooms in Florida. International Council of Educational Professionals. Fort Myers, Florida. November 2023.
- Enhancing students’ experience abroad through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). Florida Consortium for International Education. Valencia College, Orlando, Florida. October 2023.
- Mindset of sustainability about social issues through critical reflection and cross-cultural dialogues in multidisciplinary virtual exchange projects. Valencia College, Orlando, Florida. October 2023.
- Los “indecentes” en La bastarda (2016), de Trifonia Melibea Obono: Identidad, espacios y ostracismo. XXXII Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. March 2023.
- Espacios de identidad afro-boliviana: La obra de Sharon Pérez y su lucha contra el silencio y la invisibilidad. South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Jacksonville, FL. November, 2022.
- Activismo feminista y anti-racista en la obra de Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro. XXIX Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica. San Juan, PR. March 2022.
- Black Puerto Rican Women: Protagonists of a Forgotten History. South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Virtual Conference. November 2021.
- Gritos de libertad: El silencio de las nubes (2017), de Zahra el Hasnaoui.” Northeast Modern Language Association. Virtual Conference. March 2021.
- En búsqueda de libertad: Mujeres, sexo y tradición en La bastarda (2016) de Trifonia Melibea Obono. South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Virtual Conference. November 2020.
- In Search of Freedom: Women against Sexual Oppression in Equatorial Guinean Literature. Northeast Modern Language Association. Boston, MA. March 2020.
- “Montserrat Anguiano: Identidad femenina afro-hispana a través de la pintura.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Atlanta, Georgia. November 2019.
- “Feminine Voices from Equatorial Guinea: Writing in Spanish against Invisibility and Silence.” Northeast Modern Language Association. Washington DC. March, 2019.
- “Literatura hispano-africana contemporánea: Los fantasmas del colonialismo español en Guinea Ecuatorial y el Sahara Occidental.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Birmingham, AL. November, 2018.
- “Inmigrantes africanos del más allá: Identidad, invisibilidad y fantasmas en Las voces del Estrecho (2016), de Andrés Sorel.” Association of Gender Studies and Sexuality. Chicago, Illinois. September, 2018.
- “Inmigrantes africanos en la España del siglo XXI: Cuerpos, espacios y poder.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA). Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. April, 2018.
- “Sahrawi Women’s Poetry: Hispanic-African Voices of Revolution and Freedom.” Southeast Conference on Foreign Languages, Literature, and Film. Celebration, Florida. March, 2018.
- “Literatura femenina saharaui en español: La defensa de la identidad del Sahara Occidental en la poesía de Fátima Galia M. Salem.” XIX Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica. Buenos Aires, Argentina. March, 2017.
- “Poesía femenina saharaui: Cantos hispánicos por la libertad de la última colonia africana.” XXVI Annual Conference of the International Association of Women’s Studies in Hispanic Literature and Culture. Houston, Texas, November 2016.
- “Entre silencios y objetivación: La ‘voz’ de los inmigrantes africanos en los relatos de Nieves García Benito y Andrés Sorel.” XVII Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica. Mérida, México. March, 2016.
- “Immigration and Contemporary Spanish Cinema: Cultural Clashes, Otherness, and the Struggle for Integration.” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association. Portland, Oregon, November 2015.
- “Inmigración africana en el cine español contemporáneo.” Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica, Antigua, Guatemala, March 2015.
- “Viaje, transformación y supervivencia: Subsaharianos rumbo a España en el film español 14 kilómetros (2007).” Spanish and Portuguese Research Group. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN. May, 2014.
- “From Africa to Spain: Identity, Otherness, and Silence in the story La mujer sin cabeza, by Andrés Sorel (2002).” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Seattle, WA, October 2012.
- “New Directions of the Contemporary Spanish Cinema: North African Immigrants’ Attempts of Social and Economic Integration in Letters from Alou (1990).” Modern Languages Symposium 2011. Dublin, Ireland. December, 2011.
- “Esclavos en el Paraíso: La objetivación de los inmigrantes norteafricanos y la lucha por el poder en La Cazadora (1995), de Encarna Cabello.” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Claremont, CA, November, 2011.
- “Immigración norteafricana en el cine español: Fricciones de identidad, integración y poder en Poniente (2002), de Chus Gutierrez." Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Honolulu, HI. November, 2010.
- “Si te dicen que caí: la Guerra Civil y la “realidad inventada” de los aventis,” CINE-LIT VI: International Conference on Hispanic Film and Fiction, Portland, February 2007.
- “Tendencias impresionistas: La pintura de John WilliamWaterhouse y la Sonata de Otoño de Ramón del Valle-Inclán,” Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, Tucson, AZ. October, 2006.
