Faculty Profile
Mariana Past
Professor of Spanish (2006)
Contact Information
Bosler Hall Room 124
717-245-1833
Bio
Professor Past's research focuses on Spanish and Francophone Caribbean literature, including issues of migration/exile, Haitian-Dominican relations, and representations of the Haitian Revolution. Her articles have appeared in the Revista de la Casa de las Américas, Afro-Hispanic Review, Revista del Caribe, Global South, Journal of Haitian Studies, Cultural Dynamics, sx salon, and Atlantic Studies. She co-edited (with Natalie Léger, CUNY Queens College) Toussaint Louverture: Repensar un icono (2015) and co-translated (with Benjamin Hebblethwaite, UFL) Michel-Rolph Trouillot's (1977) Ti difé boulé sou istoua Ayiti [Stirring the Pot of Haitian History] from Haitian Creole to English. She has also published poetry and prose translations in Metamorphoses, Transition, and World Literature Today. Professor Past teaches courses that emphasize the overlapping histories and cultures of people in the Caribbean and the broader diaspora, challenging notions of cultural production in terms of national linguistic blocks.
Education
- B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1994
- M.A., Duke University, 2002
- Ph.D., 2006
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
SPAN 202 Intermediate Spanish II
The primary goal of this course is to develop students' formal knowledge of Spanish by reviewing and studying the more challenging grammatical structures. The course will also work on development of skills in reading, oral expression, and vocabulary development. The purpose of the course is to equip students with the formal grammatical background necessary to be successful in courses on Hispanic literatures, linguistics and cultures. Prerequisite: 201 or the equivalent.
Spring 2025
LALC 200 Migration and Exile
Cross-listed with SPAN 299-01. In this course we will explore a variety of texts by Caribbean and diasporic writers (in Spanish) that address issues of migration and exile from different cultural and historical perspectives. Our focus will be on developing effective tools, techniques, and critical approaches for reading and interpreting works of literature, film, and music. Students will learn to examine discourses, analyze arguments, and construct and defend arguments of their own, orally and in writing.
LALC 295 Int to US Latinx/Chic Lit/Cult
Cross-listed with SPAN 295-01.
SPAN 295 Int to US Latinx/Chic Lit/Cult
Cross-listed with LALC 295-01. This interdisciplinary introduction to Latinx/Chicanx Studies discusses cultural, literary, historical, political, and artistic texts produced within U.S. Latinx/Chicanx communities. This class will cover the varied lives and identities of Latinx individuals, with a particular focus on the Caribbean diaspora. This course will be taught primarily in English, with the FLIC option available for credit towards majors/minors in Spanish.
SPAN 299 Read & Think About Texts
Cross-listed with LALC 200-03. In this course we will explore a variety of texts by Caribbean and diasporic writers (in Spanish) that address issues of migration and exile from different cultural and historical perspectives. Our focus will be on developing effective tools, techniques, and critical approaches for reading and interpreting works of literature, film, and music. Students will learn to examine discourses, analyze arguments, and construct and defend arguments of their own, orally and in writing.