Sofia Ruiz-Alfaro Professor of Spanish, Program Chair of Latin American and LatinX Studies

I received my Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Southern California in December 2001. In May 2006, I also received an M.A. degree in Cinema-Television from the Program in Critical Studies, at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

My scholarly work revolves around the critical connections that contemporary Latin American narrative and film establish in the representation of personal and collective identities. I am particularly interested in discourses concerned with gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and issues of transnationality and globalism.

I have published various articles on the lesbian icon Chavela Vargas in contemporary popular culture.

My latest work focuses on the filmic representation of domestic work in Latin America and I am currently editing a volume on the media representation of the female Latinx doméstica in Hollywood. 

At F&M, I teach all levels of Spanish language and culture courses.  I also teach survey courses on Latin American contemporary novel, short story, drama, and cinema. My most recent topic courses are the seminars "Fantasía y realidad en América Latina" and "Queering Latinoamérica".