BACKGROUND

B.A. Spanish and Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder Magna Cum Laude
M.A. Spanish, Washington University, St. Louis
Ph.D. Spanish American Literature, University of California, Davis
   · Special Emphasis in Second Language Acquisition

COURSES

SPAN 4700/5700 Seminar: Latin American Travel
SPAN 4562 Latin American Texts of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
SPAN 4560. Major Latin-American Authors
SPAN 3330 Advanced Spanish Composition
SPAN 2550 Approaches to the Study of Hispanic Literatures
SPAN 2441 Latin-American Culture and Civilization
SPAN 1002 Spanish Level 2
SPAN 1001 Spanish Level 1

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Nineteenth-Century Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies
Nation Building and Identity Formation
Migration and Diaspora
Tourism and Travel Writing

Dr. Valko researches and teaches in the fields of 19th and 20th century Latin American literary and cultural studies. Her research examines such issues as tourism, immigration, nationalism, and identity in non-fictional texts. Dr. Valko is particularly interested in Germanic migration and diasporic communities, the rhetoric of transnational commerce, and cross-cultural representations in the contexts of Argentina and Chile. Currently, she is revising a book manuscript about how Argentine national identity is redefined by prominent local and Germanic immigrant authors.
 
At ECU, she facilitates intercultural awareness by organizing the Hispanic Film Series and promoting events related to the Humanities.

PUBLICATIONS

Article. "Negociacón de una identidad germano-argentina en Der Medizinmann am Lanin de Bertha Koessler-Ilg." Revista Iberoamericana. Forthcoming.

Article. "La desmitificación del inmigrante alemán en Don Helmuth, el colono de Carlos Fuenzalida Valdivia." Acta Literaria. 40.1 (2010):45-69.

Article. "Tourist Gaze and Germanic Immigrants in Roberto Arlt's Aguafuertes patagónicas." Revista Hispánica Moderna. 62.1 (2009): 77-91.

Article. "Soñar con el futuro. Proyectos inmigratorios para la Patagonia argentina en Roberto J. Payró y Teodoro Alemann." Iberoamericana. América Latina - España - Portugal. 30 (2008): 27-45.

Edited Journal Issue. "Utopian Passports: Travel, Immigration and Diaspora in Latin America," Brújula: revista interdisciplinaria sobre estudios latinoamericanos 3 (2004).

Archival commentary. "Roberto Arlt's Aguafuertes patagónicas." Brújula: revista interdisciplinaria sobre estudios latinoamericanos 3 (2004): 28-34.

Article. with Febe Armendariz. "En Route: Publishing an Academic Article." Brújula: revista interdisciplinaria sobre estudios latinoamericanos 2 (2003): 105-131.

Book Review. Szurmuk, Mónica. Women in Argentina: Early Travel Narratives. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2000. Studies in Travel Writing 7.1 (2003):106-108.