[Anna Castillo]

Hello to all! Many thanks for the recent nomination for a seat on the Executive Committee of the LLC 20th- and 21st-Century Latin American Forum. I’m a newcomer to the MLA Commons, so let me introduce myself. I am the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University, where I research and teach contemporary literature and film, with a focus on the Southern Cone. My recent publications in Hispanic Review and Chasqui–on maternity and online dating in literature, respectively–are part of a larger research agenda focused on technologically mediated intimacy in contemporary novels. I am currently writing a book titled Plastic Companions: Posthuman Intimacy in Twenty-First-Century Southern Cone Narrative. (Email me if you’d like to know more.) Those who know me best will tell you I am a passionate educator. My lit courses tend to emphasize the capaciousness of the term “literature,” and my film courses ask students to think like directors. Although I haven’t made it to the MLA Convention every year, I have most recently presented on teaching trigger-inducing texts as well as on collaborative teaching.  I am an advocate for early-career teaching experiences in the humanities that provide graduate students and junior faculty autonomy to design, deliver, and assess their own classes… and not only within the university. I myself have taught in two correctional facilities, an assisted living facility, and a high school. Thanks again for the nomination! My email is a.castillo@vanderbilt.edu. Say hello!

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