Dr. Alejandra Márquez is an Assistant Professor of Spanish with a focus on Gender and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean at Michigan State University’s Department of Romance and Classical Studies. Her current book project examines literary representations of sapphic desire in contemporary Mexico and how narratives can serve to challenge or perpetuate normative perceptions of gender and sexuality. She has published her research in peer reviewed journals like Chasqui, Latin American Literary Review, and Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea, among others. She has written book chapters for edited collections like the Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric (2022, eds. Jacqueline Rhodes and Jonathan Alexander) and Fronteras de violencia entre México y Estados Unidos (2021, ed. Oswaldo Estrada).

She serves as graduate advisor for the M.A. in Hispanic Literatures and Ph.D. in Hispanic Cultural Studies

Dr. Márquez is currently accepting graduate students.

Degrees:

• Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• M.A. in Spanish, Texas A&M International University
• B.A. in Spanish, Texas A&M International University

Research Interests:

Contemporary Latin American literature, queer/cuir studies in Latin America, contemporary Mexican chronicle, gendered narratives of northern Mexico, gender identity and transgressions, depictions of state-sponsored violence, Latinx literature and culture, and comedy studies in Mexico.

Publications

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

“La posibilidad de ser feliz también existe”: Maternidad travesti en Las malas (2019) de Camila Sosa Villada”. Romance Notes 62.3 (2022). 383-393.

“Masculinidad femenina en Sandra, secreto amor (2001) de Reyna Barrera y ‘¡Pantera!¡Pantera!’ (2010) de Elena Madrigal.” Clepsydra. Revista de estudios de género y teoría feminista 17(2018): 63-77. Backlog, published in November 2019.

“Obesidad, belleza y mirada masculina en Vapor (2004) de Julieta García González.” Latin American Literary Review 45.89 (2018): 21-27.

“Traces of Lesbianism in Cristina Rivera Garza’s La cresta de Ilión (2002) and Valeria Luiselli’s Los ingrávidos (2011)” (1991).” iMex. México Interdisciplinario / Interdisciplinary Mexico 13.1 (2018): 60-72.

“Intermitencias de género y sexualidad en la crónica mexicana contemporánea.” Chasqui. Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana 46.2 (2017): 48-60.

“Historia, mito y calle en Muertes de Aurora de Gerardo de la Torre.” Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea 58 (2013): XV-XXI.

Book chapters

“Una machorra en Machacado Ville: masculinidad lencha y fronteras en La reinita pop no ha muerto de Criseida Santos Guevara.” Bordxs: Representaciones de géneros, sexualidades y fronteras. Una aproximación a las literaturas y culturas fronterizas. Editorial Artificios. 2023. 133-157

“Cuir-ing Queer: Speculations on Latin American Notions of Queerness”. Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric. Routledge. 2022. 446-453.

“Diluvio de violencia: masculinidad y (trans)feminicidio en Temporada de huracanes (2017) de Fernanda Melchor.” Fronteras de violencia entre México y Estados Unidos. Albatros Ediciones. 2021. 121-134.

“‘Allá derecho encuentras algo’: mujeres y violencia en tres narrativas de la frontera.” Senderos de violencia. Latinoamérica y sus narrativas armadas. Albatros Ediciones. 2015. 59-79.

Other publications

“Ya es hora: La mirada femenina en la producción cinematográfica de Alejandra Márquez Abella”. Revista de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades 47.1 (2021): 175-82. (interview)

Videos

Alejandra Márquez Faculty Bio