Professor Explores Gender Identity in Post-Conflict Societies

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Professor Erika Almenara, right, has breakfast with Peruvian author Alonso Cueto Caballero during her research in South America in May.

Erika Almenara studies the aftermath of human rights abuses in Peru and in Chile, particularly as they affect gender identity. She spent four weeks in Latin America in May and June, conducting research in Lima and Santiago de Chile.

"What is the role of a woman, what is the role of a man, in these societies after these periods of violence in all their particularities?" asks Almenara, assistant professor of Latin American literature and culture for the World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Department in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Almenara uses nonofficial narratives in the form of literature, performance and film to explore the consequences of societal violence on gender image and perception. She also is interested in the relationship between gender and politics. Read more about Almenara's research in the Field Notes section of Research Frontiers.