Roxanna Colón-Cosme specializes in Iberian Literature, particularly from the Medieval and Early Modern periods. In her master’s studies, she analyzed the representational diversity of the Muslim female characters in the Libro de buen amor and El conde Lucanor. Also, she is interested in the diverse representation of women and women’s space in Ovidian-style love instructional documents in Iberia (ars amatoria).

Furthermore, Roxanna is interested in studying the representation and production of space in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian works. In her doctoral dissertation, she highlighted the forgotten corpus of Iberian chapbooks, better known as pliegos sueltos, and the unstudied genre of glosas de romance (glossed ballads). Using a geocritical approach, her dissertation exposed an interconnected literary, geographic, and representational space in the pliegos suetlos, uncovered how sixteenth-century glosas intercepted and modified the understanding of medieval romances, and showcased how these narrative and geographic intertextualities reveal a comprehensive and valuable representation of the transition from medieval to early modern Iberian space. In addition, through the close reading of the pliegos sueltos, she illustrated how sixteenth-century authors often employed and manipulated old and new materials to portray a Christian and homogeneous Iberia.

Roxanna is also the co-founder of UCLA’s Hebrew Aljamiado Research Group. They developed a transcription system and have offered workshops on how to read and transcribe aljamiado texts. In addition, they are currently preparing an introduction and transcription of a nineteenth-century Judeo-Spanish version of the fourteenth-century Treatise on Animals by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus.

Education

  • Ph.D., Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2022
  • M.A., Hispanic Studies, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, San Juan, PR, 2016
  • B.A., Hispanic Studies, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR, 2013

Research

Medieval and Early Modern Literature. Manuscript and Early Prints Materiality. Pliegos sueltos. Romances and glosas de romances. Geocritical theories. Maps and Textual Maps. Mediterranean Studies. Hebrew-Aljamiado. Conquest and Empire. Guidelines for Women Behavior.

Dissertation

‘Dezir quiero de Granada, todo quanto he visto en ella’: A Geocritical Approach to Sixteenth Century Iberian pliegos sueltos. 2022. University of California, Los Angeles. PhD Dissertation. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8h96h9p2#main

Courses

SPAN 130: Topics in Medieval Studies. Mapping Iberia: Geocritical Approaches to Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Narratives

This course will introduce the student to the rich Iberian Medieval and Early Modern literature and culture through the lenses of Geocriticism and space. The examination of Iberian literature, cultural objects, maps, and popular practices will allow us to explore the fascinating encounters among the different religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups in the Peninsula and understand the spatial shifts throughout its history. We will examine, among other things, the historical processes, the fluidity of the political boundaries, the role of the Mediterranean in the Iberian mercantile networks, urban and rural spaces, public rituals, gendered spaces, imperial architectures, the dynamics of spatial appropriation, and the complex subtleties that contributed to the understanding and visualization of Medieval and Early Modern Iberian spatiality.

Conference Presentations and Workshops

  • “‘Libriko de romansas importantes’: Cartography and Adaptation in 16th Century Iberian pliegos sueltos and 20th Century Mediterranean Sephardic librikos de romanzas.” From Romance to Romance: Translating Medieval and Early Modern Romance Vernacular Texts (13th-18th c.), 23-24 Jan. 2023, University of California, Los Angeles. Organizing Committee.
  • “Reimagined Cityscapes: Sites of Exchange, Urban Expansion, and Expunged Diversity in Iberian Chapbooks.” Ethno-Religious Interaction in Premodern Iberia: Mechanisms and Trajectories, 14-15 Oct. 2022, CMRS-CEGS Center for Early Global Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.
  • “‘Que nunca en estas tierras se han oydo’: Materiality, Readers, and Mobility in Sixteenth Century Iberian Chapbooks.” Early Modern Spanish Literature. 9th Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (SMRS), 21-23 Jun. 2022, Saint Louis University, MO.
  • “‘De Granada a Almería’: Mapping Sacred and Hybrid Spaces in pliegos sueltos from 16th Century Iberia.” City Limits: Verging on the Urban in Medieval Iberia. 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), 9-14 May 2022, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Online.
  • “‘¡Amad, dueñas, amalde tal omne qual debuxo!’: Understanding the Medieval Male through Guidelines for Women’s Behavior.” Medieval-Ibero Explicandi per Masculum: Counsel for Women Composed by Men. 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), 10-15 May 2021, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Online.
  • “The Sensorial Experience in the Mystic Poetry of Saint John of the Cross and Ibn al’Arabi of Murcia.” Crossing Religious Boundaries in the Medieval World: Categorization, Translation, Figuration, Mysticism. 96th meeting of Medieval Academy of America, 15-18 Abr. 2021, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Online.
  • “A Hebrew Aljamiado Workshop.” New Directions, Old Roots. 7th Annual ucLADINO Judeo-Spanish Symposium, 14-15 Mar. 2018, University of California, Los Angeles. Organizing Committee.
  • “Alef Bet and Romance Correspondences” and “Danza de la muerte in MS Parma 2666; fol. 200r.” Unveiling Judeo-Spanish Texts: A Hebrew Aljamiado Workshop. 1st Hebrew Aljamiado Research Group Workshop, 22 Feb. 2018, University of California, Los Angeles. Organizing Committee.