About
Born in Alzira (Valencia) I studied English and Spanish Philology at the University of Valencia. Worked on an MA on gay theatre which sparked an interest on gay history and queer aesthetics and was followed up by a PhD dissertation on the queer aspects of the theatrical voices of Tennessee Williams and Joe Orton.
Spent two years as language assistant at Oxford University (Taylor Institution, 1989-1991) and a year as lecturer at Universitat Jaume I (1991-1992) in Castelló (Spain). In 1993 I returned to the United Kingdom where I have held a number of posts: between 1992 and 1995, I lectured in Spanish film, language and literature at Oxford University, in 1995 my first full time lecturing position at Middlesex University, where I taught several courses on language, literature and translation. In 1997 I became Queen Sofia Research Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford. In October 1999 I started my current job as a Reader at Oxford Brookes University.
I started at the Spanish department, and then was transferred to Film Studies in 2005. I was awarded sabbatical leave with the support of AHRC grants in 2002 and 2006, which allowed me two write my main monographs on gay cultures in Spain and on queer cinema. Since 2003 I published fiction, translation, academic and reference volumes, as well as articles on authors such as Terenci Moix, Pedro Almodóvar, Eduardo Mendicutti, Iván Zulueta, Mario Casas, Eduardo Blanco Amor, Manuel Puig, Federico García Lorca and other authors. Currently I am a member of the HERA funded project Crusev ("Cruising the Seventies") and am preparing projects on pop musicals, and queer boyhoods.
1999 to present:
Reader in Spanish and Film, Oxford Brookes University
Subject Coordinator for Film 2013-2016 and member of School Management Team
Programme Leader for Film 2012-2013 and member of School Management Team
Head of Film 2007-2008 and member of School Management Group
Research Coordinator for Spanish 1999-2002 and member of School Management Team
1997-1999: Queen Sofía Research Fellowship in Spanish Studies, Exeter College, Oxford
1995-1997: Lecturer/ Senior Lecturer in Spanish, Middlesex University, London
1993-1995: Lecturer/ Lector, Medieval and Modern Languages (Spanish), University of Oxford
1992-1993: Lecturer, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló, Spain
1990-1992: Spanish College Lector (St Catherine´s), University of Oxford
Grants and Externally funded research projects:
2016: Member of the HERA funded "Cruising the 1970s-CRUSEV"-CRP no. 5087-00242A - HERA / ESF. Researchers from Germany, Spain and the UK collaborate on this project on homosexual cultures in Europe after Stonewall.
2014-2016: Member of research networks in Spain, developing projects on "e-Skills and Education in Digital Communication for Jobs" (CSO2013-40702-P, Ministerio de Economía) and “Space, bodies and material cultures”(Code: FFI2011-24211)
2015: Spanish Education Ministry-funded research network: «Diversidad de género, masculinidad y cultura en España, Argentina y México» (FEM2015-69863-P) del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Gobierno de España)
2007: AHRC Award for completion on project on homosexual spectatorship in Spain.
2002: AHRB Award (four months matched by my institution) for completion of project on Cultural history of Homosexuality in Spain. Completed following schedule. Monograph published May 2004.
1990: MA dissertation funded by a Research Grant from the Spanish Government.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION/ QUALIFICATIONS
1994: Obtained Ph.D. in English and American Drama, University of Valencia (Spain). Ph D.Thesis on homosexual enunciation in the dramatic text (Original Title: Secreto a voces: texto dramático y enunciación homosexual., submitted on May 23, 1994, awarded with a Distinction mark; this was later published by the University of Valencia Press).
1992: M.A. in English Studies, University of Valencia. M.A. Thesis on the construction of gay identity in Post-Stonewall English and American Drama.
1991: Grau Mitjá in Catalan
1991: ANECA (Spanish Qualification for University Teaching)
1990: Spanish research grant on language studies awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Education. Developed a project on the representations of Death in Jacobean Drama, submitted as an extended essay for B.A degree.
1989: Degree in Modern Languages, University of Valencia, Spain. Overall mark: Sobresaliente (First Class degree).
RESEARCH
Research Areas: Spanish Film, Spectatorship, European Film Styles, Gender in Film and Literature, Spanish Theatre, Gender in Spanish cultures, Translation.
Publications:
Research in past two years leading up to a volume on queer childhoods in Hispanic autobiographical fiction. First draft to be completed by the end of 2017 and application for AHRC funding to finalise it is in progress. Monographs, including Historical Dictionary of Spanish Cinema, an essay on Spanish Twentieth Century Theatre (De silencios y espejos), a wide ranging history of manifestations of homosexuality in Spanish culture, De Sodoma a Chueca: Una historia cultural de la homosexualidad en España, 1915-1990) (AHRB funded), a volume on gay spectatorship, Miradas insumisas (AHRB funded) and an edited volume on Iberian Cinemas, 24 Frames: Spain and Portugal.
Several articles on Almodóvar published as chapters and in refereed journals, other articles on Lorca on film, Zulueta, Eduardo Mendicutti, Terenci Moix, Agustín Gómez Arcos, Eduardo Blanco Amor, Ventura Pons, and La movida. Also edited an issue of Spanish film journal Archivos de la Filmoteca. Proposal of BFI essay on Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education. Currently working on Spanish film and TV stars. Just published: an essay on Mario Casas in a volume on Spanish film performance. Project: a volume on Spanish star Sara Montiel.
Two editions, including translation and critical apparatus, for Spanish academic publishers Cátedra, of works by Edward Albee and Oscar Wilde. Currently working on translation and critical edition of Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi.
I have also compiled a dictionary of homosexual culture that combined research on homosexual cultures and divulgation, and have been editor for the Spanish section for a similar project published in 2001 by Routledge (Who’s Who in Lesbian and Gay History).
A number of articles on homosexuality in Spanish culture, Spanish cinema and theatre (Lorca, Cifesa epics) and theory and practice of translation, published in Spanish and British academic journals (including Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, Archipiélago, Archivos de la Filmoteca and Tesserae), as well as in edited volumes (including Spanish Popular Cinema, MUP; Constraints and Creativity, St Jerome´s Press; Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies, Arnold; and Spaces in European Cinema, Intellect; The Translator as Writer). Currently working on autobiography and cinephilia in the work of Terenci Moix and Eduardo Mendicutti.
Author of two novels: Londres para corazones despistados, published in 2005. Como la tentación, awarded III Terenci Moix prize for fiction. Published 2007
Other research-related activities:
Papers and seminars on topics within my research areas in a wide range of fora, including international conferences in New York, Mexico City, Lyon, Salamanca and Cuenca and seminars in Bryn Mawr, Madrid, Barcelona and Murcia
Member of two international research networks currently applying for external funding to develop publication and research exchanges.
Reader for several Spanish publishers. A number of talks and book launches. Contributions to Media: Short editorial contributions published in Diario 16, Lambda and Zero
Various panels and advisorships on issues of homosexuality in Spain. Contribution to the academic conference programme at the Madrid Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Member of editorial boards for Academic Journals: Reverso and New Cinemas
PhD Supervision: Oxford Brookes University, Middlesex University. Mark De Valk: “The Cinema as Scaffold: Re-inscribing the Tortured body” (2011). Alireza Vahdani: Westerns (completion expected 2017).
PhD Examiner: Eight PhD panels as external examiner, one at OBU as internal examiner
External Examiner: University of Surrey Roehampton, University of Salford, University of Bradford
Reviewer for Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Tesserae, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, Archivos de la Filmoteca
Conference Organizer: for Reviewing the Popular, Oxford Brookes University, November,2001 and Historia cultural de la homosexualidad en España, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cursos del Escorial, Summer 2005
Participation in Exchange Programme with State University of New York. Sept 2007 and Universidad de Murcia, Spain, May 2012
