Speakers

Andrea Ruthven lectures in English at the University of the Balearic Islands and a member of the research groups ADHUC–Centre de Recerca Teoria, Gènere, Sexualitat at the University of Barcelona and BRICCS British and comparative cultural studies: identities and representation at the University of the Balearic Islands. She holds a BA and an MA in English from the University of Guelph, Canada, and a PhD in Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities from the University of Barcelona. Since 2022 she has coordinated the Cultural Studies panel for AEDEAN and she is currently, with Dr. Dolores Resano, coeditor of the journal Lectora. Revista de dones i textualitat.

Her research is focused on contemporary women's writing in English, with a special interest in speculative fictions and how these engage with questions of gender, sexuality, representation, and materiality. She has published several book chapters and journal articles in specialized journals and international volumes on The Hunger Games and Ms. Marvel, among others. She has co-edited with Belén Martín-Lucas the volume Narratives of Difference in Globalized Cultures (Palgrave 2017).

She is a researcher in the ministy funded project 'Cinema and Environment: Affective Ecologies in the Anthropocene' (PID2019-110068GA-I00). Her forthcoming chapter, “Land Agency and the Animacy of Stories in Danis Goulet’s and Amanda Strong’s Short Films” will be published by Routledge in Cinema of/for the Anthropocene: Affect, Ecology and Posthuman Kinship.

Iria Seijas-Pérez is a predoctoral researcher at the Universidade de Vigo, under a predoctoral grant from the Galician Government (Xunta de Galicia). She is a member of Feminario: Feminisms and Resistances, within the established Research Group “BiFeGa: Literary and Cultural Studies, Translation and Interpretation” (Ref. ED431C-2020/04), and a member of the research project “Communitas/Immunitas: relational ontologies in Atlantic anglophone cultures of the 21st century” PID2022-136904NB-I00 MCIN/AEI. Her PhD thesis, currently in progress, studies the representation of sapphic adolescent girls in young adult literature written in English by Irish women. Recent communications include “A History of Violence within Ireland’s Architecture of Containment in Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s All the Bad Apples” (AEDEI 2023) and “Navigating Sexuality in the Catholic School: The Representation of Lesbian and Bisexual Protagonists in a Catholic Context in Irish YA Fiction” (AEDEAN 46). She has also published several reviews and articles, her most recent article entitled “Irish Girlhood and Female Sexuality in Claire Hennessy's Like Other Girls” (2022) and published in the journal Estudios Irlandeses. Her research interests include Irish literature and culture, LGBTQ+ and feminist studies, and young adult literature.

Noelia Carmona-Rivero is a PhD student at the University of Granada, working on a thesis focused on the representation of masculinities in Donal Ryan’s bibliography. She finished her BA in English Studies at the University of Extremadura, where she is currently working as Substitute Lecturer, and completed an MA in English Literature and Linguistics at the University of Granada with an MA thesis on Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart. Her research is mainly focused on the study of masculinities within Irish literature, so her main interests reside on Irish Studies and Masculinity Studies. She is also interested in the representation of gender and queerness in literature and media. 

Pablo Iglesias Fernández is a Foreign Languages undergraduate student at the University of Vigo. He is currently working on his final project, which deals with the narrative development of two main characters in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Jon Snow and Arya Stark, and their relevance in the final season. Pablo chose this seminar as a means to present a first attempt of the aforementioned final project.

Noelia is a student of the Interuniversity Master's Degree in Advanced English Studies and its Applications (Imaes) at the University of A Coruña. She has completed the Double Degree in English and Spanish Studies and works as an English private teacher.

Her scientific production includes her participation as speaker at the conferences I Seminar on Eurasian Cavalry (2022) and From the Margins: II Conference on Alternative Narratives and Cultural Studies (2018), held at the same university. Her research interests revolve around Cultural Studies, the influence of video games and currents such as postmodernism or ecofeminism.

Irene Martínez Misa is currently a second year PhD student in Advanced English Studies at Universidade da Coruña. Her dissertation focuses on the subject of Instapoetry. Her main objective is examining not only the topics, but also the forms of the compositions of this new poetical movement, from a feminist perspective. Other of her research interests include digital humanities, media studies, and ecofeminism. She has written a book chapter titled “Instapoetry and the Creation of Affective Online Communities.” Last year, she spent three months in the Digital Humanities Institute, at the University of Sheffield as a visiting doctoral student.

Natalia Mirón-Florido has a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies with a pathway in Literature in English and a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature and Literary studies from the University of the Basque Country. She is currently a PhD student in the program of Comparative Literature and Literary Studies. Her research interests cover a wide range of topics,—postcoloniality, West-East cultural interactions, gender and queerness— with a preference for a fantasy context. At the moment, she is working on her thesis titled Through Colonized Eyes: How Japanese Popular Culture Occidentalised the Anglo-Saxon Archetype of the British Butler.

Mar Nieves-Fernández is a PhD candidate in the Department of English Philology at the University of Vigo (Spain). Her research interests lie in historical sociolinguistics and historical phonology, with a focus on eighteenth-century pronouncing dictionaries. In her doctoral thesis she investigates the phonological development of the velar nasal consonant /ŋ/ in the Late Modern English period, looking into linguistic and sociolinguistic variation and change (e.g. the huntin', shootin' and fishin' shibboleth) and drawing data from the pronouncing dictionaries that make up the Eighteenth-Century English Phonology Database.

She also has a strong scholarly interest in Renaissance and Restoration Literature.

Andrea Orois Prado holds a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she also completed a minor in literary studies. Furthering her academic pursuits, she obtained Master's degrees in Teacher Training for Secondary Education and Language Teaching, as well as Advanced English Studies. Currently undertaking doctoral research at USC, her focus lies on exploring the Gothic elements present in indie video games. Alongside her academic endeavours, Andrea maintains a genuine interest in games studies and fashion studies.

María Platas Alonso works as a temporary teacher at FIFA Department (University of Vigo). She holds a PhD in Advanced English Studies with her doctoral thesis: El biopic como género empoderador en la cinematografía feminsita afroamericana (2022). She is a member of the research group BiFeGa: Literary and Cultural Studies, Translation and Interpretation (UVigo), and is also associated with the CISPAC: Interuniversity Research Centre for Atlantic Cultural Landscapes. Her most recent publications include the monograph El biopic feminista afroamericano: una herramienta empoderadora (2023; UIB); and academic articles such as “La narrativa biográfica como contradiscurso feminista en The Rosa Parks Story (2002) de Julie Dash” in Asparkía. Investigació Feminista (2023, https://doi.org/10.6035/asparkia.7206); and “Comunidad y afectos en el documental biográfico lesbiano afroamericano: Living with Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100 in Lectora: Revista de Dones e Intertextualidat, 2023, 35-51

Alberto Quintá Vila is a Foreign Languages undergraduate student at the University of Vigo. He is currently working on his final project, which deals with the analysis of two main characters in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, and their portrayal and challenge of Knighthood in the series. Alberto chose this seminar as a means to present a first attempt of the aforementioned final project.

Maria Jose Salazar Garcia was born in Venezuela. From an early age, she showed great interest in languages, demonstrating it by learning English in a self-taught way. She began her career at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) studying International Relations but then moved to the city of Vigo, resuming her studies at the University of Vigo and deciding to pursue a degree in Foreign Languages instead. She has shown a fascination for linguistics, gender roles, and the evolution of languages through time.

Alexandra Simón López holds a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she also earned a Master's degree in Advanced English Studies and their Applications. She also holds a Master's degree in Secondary and Baccalaureate Teacher Training, Vocational Training, and Language Teaching. In previous works, she has explored topics such as identity and the myth of the American Dream as portrayed in Broadway musicals. Currently, she is working on a thesis focusing on the culinary world and its connection to issues of class, identity, and consumption, as depicted in audiovisual products.

Born in Lugo, Silvia Vázquez Lorenzo is a PhD student specializing in Irish literature and culture and is part of the Irish Studies research group at the University of A Coruña. She previously earned a Bachelor's degree in English Studies and a Master's degree in Advanced English Studies at the same university. She participated in the conference From the Margins: II Conference on Alternative Narratives and Cultural Studies (2018) and in the collection of essays Post-Urban Spaces in Contemporary Fiction: Transcultural Spaces and Places (TIR, 2023). Her main academic interests include Irish literature, Cultural Studies and Neurodiversity Studies.

María Ventoso Prado holds a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she also completed her Master's in Advanced English Studies and its Applications in 2023. Her master's thesis, "'We're bad feminists': Feminism and Postfeminism in Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag" (2016), delves into contemporary female representation in television series. Currently pursuing her PhD, she expands her research to other media products such as Killing Eve (2019) and Dead Ringers (2023). Her areas of interest include media studies in relation with gender and queer studies, postmodernism and intermediality.

Aslıhan Yücel is a doctoral student at the University of Santiago de Compostela. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Ankara University one being in Spanish Literature and the other in American Culture and Literature, as well as a Master’s in Spanish Literature at the same institute. She has attended several conferences in Spain and Italy. Her dissertation focuses on the representation of African Americans in visual media and the deconstruction of these stereotypes. Her research interests consist of African American literature, film studies, science fiction and contemporary American novel.