Vanessa Ovalle Perez
Contact
Bio
Dr. Vanessa Ovalle Perez earned her doctoral degree in comparative literature and graduate certificate in gender studies from the University of Southern California. As a CSUSB faculty member in the Department of English, she specializes in Chicanx and Latinx literature. She currently serves as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Correctional Education and teaches Prison Education Project creative writing courses at state prisons and rehab facilities. Her research interests include Spanish-language newspapers and poetry of the western United States, gender studies, archives, and decolonial theory. During the 2022-23 academic year, she was in residence as a research fellow at The Huntington Library completing her book project which examines poetry published by Latinas in Spanish-language newspapers of Alta California in the period after the Mexican-American War. Her article, “Toasting México in the American West: Brindis Poems and Political Loyalties of Women’s Mexican Patriotic Clubs,” is available in Letras Femeninas and "Voicing a Transnational Latina Poetics: The Dedication Poems of Amelia Denis and Carlota Gutierrez" is available in J19. Her essay “Inspiration or Coincidence? Guadalupe Gutierrez and María Berta Quintero y Escudero’s Espinas y rosas as Discursive Doubles” is available in Spain, the United States, and Transatlantic Literary Culture throughout the Nineteenth Century, an edited volume published by Routledge. Her podcast on the topic of Latina dedication poetry is available on the C19 Podcast via Soundcloud.
Education
Ph.D. Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture (Comparative Literature) - University of Southern California
Graduate Certificate, Gender Studies - University of Southern California
M.A. Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture (Comparative Literature) - University of Southern California
B.A. Comparative Literature - Cornell University
Courses/Teaching
Spring 2024
(English 3230) Chicanx Literature: Precarity and Solidarity Fronteriza
(English 5140) Community-Based Writing: Prison Education Project
(English 5150-01) Senior Seminar: To the Archive!
Fall 2023
(English 6020) Seminar in a Literary Genre: Latinx Poetics
(Honors 3300/3350) Belonging Across Borders: Immigrant Inquiry Project
Spring 2022
(English 1210) Diversity Literature & Social Justice
(English 2250) Historical Approached to American Literature
(English 3230) Chicanx Literature: Precarity and Solidarity Fronteriza
(English 3010) Analysis of Poetry and Drama: The Poetics of Performance
Fall 2021
(English 5140) Community-Based Writing: Prison Education Project
(Honors 3300/3350) Belonging Across Borders: Immigrant Inquiry Project
Spring 2021
(English 3230) Chicanx Literature: Precarity and Solidarity Fronteriza
(English 5150-01) Senior Seminar: To the Archive!
(English 6510-02) “Out West” Intersectional Literary Perspectives of the American West
Fall 2020
(English 3230) Chicanx Literature: Precarity and Solidarity Fronteriza
(English 3360) Women Writers: Intersectional Imagining and Coalition Building
(English 3010) Analysis of Poetry and Drama: The Poetics of Performance
Spring 2020
(English 323) Chicanx Literature: Precarity and Solidarity Fronteriza
(English 301B) Analysis and Writing of Poetry: Remix, Revise, and “Make it New!”
Winter 2020
(English 463) Advanced Studies in Literary Topics: “Out West” Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality in Literature of the American West
(English 601) Seminar in Poetry: Latinx Poetics