Jonathan Dettman

Ph.D Candidate, Spanish and Portuguese
University of California, Davis
E-mail: jondettman@ucdavis.edu

Education

Ph.D. in Latin American Literatures and Cultures, Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory

University of California, Davis (expected July, 2011)

Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

Advanced to Candidacy (July 16, 2009).

M.A.T. in Spanish

Northern Arizona University (May, 2006)

Degree in Teaching Spanish, Awarded with Distinction

Capstone Project: “El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo de Senel Paz: Una versión anotada para el estudiante de literatura.” Advisor: Professor Stephen Clark.

B.A. in Spanish

Arizona State University (May, 2001)

Dissertation

My dissertation examines several important Cuban novels from the post-Soviet period (1991– ), more commonly known as the Special Period. The first decade (1991–2001) of the post-Soviet era was characterized by an unprecedented economic crisis caused by the island’s loss of Soviet subsidies and the tightening of the US trade embargo. Novels from this period tend to diverge both thematically and formally from the more prescriptive patterns of previous decades, and range from realist detective fiction to more experimental, postmodern or neo-Avant Garde works. The study applies a common method to the novels: a critical approach to literature derived, in part, from the pioneering work of Brazilians Antônio Cândido and Roberto Schwarz. This method isolates one or more social forms—say, a subjective standpoint unique to a place or era—that appear in a literary work as determinants of key formal aspects. It oscillates between formal aesthetic analysis and sociohistorical analysis to establish mediations between the literary and social forms of Cuba’s post-Soviet period. The novels studied include Siberiana, by Jesús Díaz; Inventario secreto de La Habana and Los palacios distantes, by Abilio Estévez; La novela de mi vida and La neblina del ayer, by Leonardo Padura; El pájaro: pincel y tinta china, by Ena Lucía Portela; and Livadia [Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire], by José Manuel Prieto.

Directors:
Professor Emilio Bejel (Spanish and Portuguese)
Professor Neil Larsen (Comparative Literature; Program in Critical Theory)

Courses Taught

Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of California, Davis.

Spanish 1, Elementary Spanish. Summer 2008.

Spanish 2, Elementary Spanish. Fall 2006, Winter 2007.

Spanish 3. Elementary Spanish. Spring 2007, Winter and Spring 2008.

Spanish 21, Intermediate Spanish. Fall 2008, Spring 2009.

Spanish 22, Intermediate Spanish. Spring, Summer and Fall 2009; Winter and Spring 2010.

Program in the Humanities, University of California, Davis

Humanities 60, Gay Cuban Nation. Fall 2007. Teaching Assistant to Professor Emilio Bejel. Developed course syllabus and materials. Prepared and gave lectures. Led class discussions. Wrote and evaluated examinations. Course enrollment: 143 students.

Department of Modern Languages, Northern Arizona University

Spanish 101, First Year Spanish. Fall 2004, Summer and Fall 2005, Summer 2006.

Spanish 102, First Year Spanish. Spring 2005, Spring 2006.

Spanish 102H, First Year Spanish, Honors. Spring 2006.

Research Experience

2006–2010: Research Assistant to Dr. Emilio Bejel, Dept. of Spanish, UC Davis.

Edited and translated scholarly publications. Prepared course materials and syllabi for upper-division literature courses. Created and assisted with audiovisual presentations. Compiled subject bibliographies. Researched topics ranging from Cuban and Cuban-American homoerotic literature to the monumentalization of José Martí.

Publications

Book Chapters

“Consumption and the Culture Industry in Light of Marx’s Grundrisse.” In The Culture Industry Today, Ed. Fabio Durão, (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, forthcoming).

Refereed Articles

“Tiempo nublado: La neblina del ayer de Leonardo Padura Fuentes.” Hispamérica 113 (2009): 37-45.

Los palacios distantes: el spleen de La Habana.” La Habana Elegante 46 (2009).

“Epic, Novel, and Subjectivity in Sergio Chejfec’s Lenta biografía.” A Contracorriente 6.2 (2009): 46-63.

“Utopía y heterotopía en La neblina del ayer de Leonardo Padura.” Confluencia 23.2 (2008): 84-92.

Translations

Kurz, Robert. “The Nightmare of Freedom: the Foundations of “Western Values” and the Helplessness of Critique.” Mediations 25.1, forthcoming.

Lazzara, Michael. “Cultural Criticism.” Trans. Jonathan Dettman and Erik Larson. In Latin American Cultural Studies and its Epistemologies. [Forthcoming translation of Mónica Szurmuk and Robert Mckee Irwin, eds., Diccionario de estudios culturales latinoamericanos, México: Siglo XXI/Instituto Mora, 2009.]

Presentations

“Critical Standpoints in Post-Soviet Cuban Literature: Ena Lucía Portela.” Invited Lecture, UC Berkeley Cuba Working Group. Center for Latin American Studies, Berkeley, California. March 1, 2010.

“Reflections on Consumption and the Culture Industry in Light of the Grundrisse.” Annual MLG Institute on Culture and Society, Portland, Oregon. June 16–20, 2009.

“Canary in a Coalmine: Two Decades of Capitalist Crisis in Cuba.” The Politics of Crisis: 4th Annual Comparative Literature Graduate Conference, University of California, Irvine. April 3–4, 2009.

“La neblina del ayer: Heterotopía y posmodernidad en Leonardo Padura Fuentes.” Cuba: New Research Directions, UC Cuba Multi-Campus Research Program, University of California, Irvine. May 2–3, 2008.

“Extrañas formas de colectividad: La distorsión de motivos ‘noirs’ en Papel picado de Rolo Diez”. RMCLAS Annual Conference: Flagstaff, Arizona, April 9–12, 2008.

“Julián del Casal en la posmodernidad cubana.” Perspectives Colloquium: University of California, Davis. October 20, 2007.

“El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo de Senel Paz: Una versión anotada para el estudiante de literatura.” Public presentation of Masters Capstone. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona. April 28, 2006.

“Entre el amor y la soledad: Las expresiones del amor en la obra de García Márquez.” 10th Annual Spanish Graduate Student Symposium: Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. April 14–16, 2005.