Much of my recent research deals with contemporary Argentine literature and cinema while engaging with affect, cultural memory, gender, political dissent, and intermediality.

My first book, Affective Moments in the Films of Martel, Carri, and Puenzo (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), studies the subtle tensions between affect and emotions as terrains of sociopolitical significance in several prominent Argentine women filmmakers’ aesthetically heterogeneous films. Such tensions significantly relate to the films’ core arguments, signaling these directors’ novel insights into complex manifestations of memory, desire, and violence. 

My second book studies the intersection between marginality and sensescapes in Paula Markovitch’s films. The Cinema of Paula Markovitch: Contested Marginality probes the director’s explorations of differently marginalized dwellers and their sensescapes as a vital feature of her oeuvre. By inviting the viewer into the socioemotional layers of homeless sites, hospice-like spaces, assisted-suicide intersubjectivities, and political displacements, Markovitch revitalizes the complexity of the margins in novel and expansive ways. Such aesthetic considerations of the margins also bring to light fecund modes for broader sociocultural critiques in Markovitch’s films.

Working on my first two books inspired additional collaborations with my colleagues from Latin America, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. I have co-edited (with Philippa Page and Camilla Sutherland) The Feeling Child: Affect and Politics in Latin American Literature and Film (Lexington Books Press, 2018) and (with Jorge González del Pozo) Inusuales. hogar, sexualidad y política en el cine hispano (Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2020), and Encuentros fortuitos. Agencialidad en conflicto y poder en movimiento en el cine hispano (Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2023).

I also recently co-edited a special issue (with Camilla Sutherland), “Interrupted Frames: Gender and Intermediality,” for Mistral: Journal of Latin American Women’s Intellectual & Cultural History (Fall 2023). The issue explores the ways in which Latin American women artists have generated singular intermedial relations with other artforms, particularly literature, photography, sculpture, painting, audio recordings, and video.

I have published articles in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Chasqui: Revista de litaratura y cultura latinoamericana e indígena, Mistral: Journal of Latin American Women’s Intellectual & Cultural History, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, and Revista Hispánica Moderna. Some of my book and film reviews have appeared in Human Rights Quarterly, World Literature Today, and La Jornada Zacatecas.

My research and teaching are coupled with service to the Spanish Department and the College in general. I served as the Intermediate Spanish Coordinator from 2016 to 2018 and have served as the Casa Cervantes Faculty Advisor and Director (2019-2021). In addition to service in the Spanish Department, I have been part of the International Study Committee (2016-2018; 2019-2021; 2023-present) and the Agenda Committee (2017-2018 and 2022-2023).

Beyond my academic pursuits, I have conducted, and published on, several human rights-related projects at home and abroad. I have also been seconded to work at The United Nations Security Council, The International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. I have participated in the Albright Institute on several occasions. These undertakings have remained an inspirational force for my interdisciplinary research and teaching efforts.

I believe in pedagogical dynamism that encourages critical thinking, academic rigor, and meaningful creativity in and among my students. My teaching focuses on Spanish language courses and Latin American literature, culture, and cinema.

Research: https://selimovic09.wixsite.com/inelaselimovic