María Acosta Cruz, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Spanish
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Clark University
Worcester, MA 01610-1477

phone: (508) 793-7677
email: macostacruz@clarku.edu

Dr. Acosta Cruz received a B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 1978, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1980 and 1984, respectively. She has been at Clark since 1986 and is affiliated with the programs in Women's Studies and Race and Ethnic Relations.

Current Research and Teaching

Professor Acosta Cruz specializes in contemporary Latino and Latin American literature and culture, particularly the Hispanic Caribbean islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the 19th and 20th centuries. Her work focuses on issues around gender, identity, and history. Her special areas of research and teaching include Caribbean fiction, Latino literature in the United States and women's writing. With a degree in Comparative Literature, she has a special interest in issues related to ethnic studies and Hispanic women.

Selected Publications

"El regreso al Caribede Severo Sarduy." Hispanófila. 113, no. 2 (Enero 1995): 69-80.

"Historia y escritura femenina en Olga Nolla, Magali García Ramis, Rosario Ferré y Ana Lydia Vega." Revista Iberoamericana , vol. LIX, nos. 162-63 (Enero-Junio 1993): 265-77.

"Para que no sean adversarios. Una lectura feminista de Edgardo Rodríguez Juliá." Confluencia Revista de Literatura Hispánica , vol. 7, no. 1 (Fall Issue 1991): 43-53.

"Severo Sarduy y el juego contrareferencial de aporías." Revista de Estudios Hispánicos , Puerto Rico (1990-91): 291-300.

"Historia, ser e identidad femenina en 'Maldito amor' y 'el collar de camándulas' de Rosario Ferre." Chasqui Revista de Literatura Latinoamerican , vol. 19, no. 2 (November 1990): 23-31.