Assistant Professor, Mexican American Studies
E-mail
Magdalena.Barrera@sjsu.edu
Additional Contact Information
Phone Number(s)
(408) 924-5583
Office Hours
Wednesdays 9:00-11:00am
Thursdays 1:00-4:00pm
(and by appointment)
Fields of Expertise:
My research is deeply interdisciplinary, as I analyze representations of Mexican immigrants in American literature, music and photography of the 1920s and 30s. I am particularly interested in understanding the roles that gender and consumption play in fashioning Mexican American cultural identity during this time period. My work also explores issues of collective memory and visual narratives, especially as they come together in the form of the family photo album. My writing has appeared in Sexualities in History: A Reader and Bilingual Review.
On a personal note, I was born and raised amidst the bucolic cornfields of suburban Chicago, Illinois. Although I found my first day of kindergarten to be a disappointment, complaining that "they didn't even teach us how to read yet," I was eventually persuaded to continue my education. I spend my off-campus time taking photos with my Nikon D70; watching far too much reality tv; and reading nonfiction narratives about shipwrecks and other explorations gone tragically awry.
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