Ylce Irizarry joined the English faculty in 2006. Her recent work is forthcoming in Voces Caribenas (Palgrave MacMillan).  Her research has appeared in journals such as Contemporary Literature, Comparative American Studies, and Literature, Interpretation, Theory.  She is currently working on a manuscript that explores a shift in the ethics of Chicano and Latino narrative. In Making it Home: Ethics of Chicana/o and Latina/o Literature, she argues that these literatures have been increasingly concerned with the possibilities for empowerment within cultural communities, rather than with the possibilities for acculturation to the Anglo American mainstream.

Degrees
B.A. Le Moyne College
M.A. Purdue University
Ph.D. The Pennsylvania State University

Primary Areas of Research/Teaching
U.S. Latina/o and Chicana/o Literature
Hispanic Caribbean Literature
Narrative Ethics
Latin American Narrative
Transnational Literature/Literature of the Americas
Feminist Theory
Cultural Studies

Courses Taught
6330: Studies in Hispanic American Literature
3420: The Short Story
3300: Women and Literature
3240: U.S. Latino/a Literature
2200: Major American Writers
1000: Appreciating Literature

Selected Publications & Presentations
“A New Ethics of Immigration in Spanish Caribbean Literature.” Literature of Migration from the Islands to the Diaspora: Voces Caribeñas. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009.
 
“Interview with Cristina García.” Contemporary Literature. 48.2 (2007): 175-194.
 
“Doubly Troubling Narratives: ‘The Oppression of Possibility’ in Cuba and Puerto Rico.” CAS: Comparative American Studies 4.2 (2006): 197-219.
 
“The Ethics of Writing the Caribbean: U.S. Latina Narrative as Testimonio.” LIT: Literature, Interpretation, Theory. 16.3 (2005): 263-284.