Dr. Silvia Colás Cardona

Dr. Silvia Colás Cardona
Position
Teaching Professor, Chair, Undergraduate Advisor (Spanish)
Contact
Office: CLE A409
250-721-7412
Credentials

MA, PhD (UCalgary)

Bio

I was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. I came to Canada in 1990, and I obtained my MA and PhD at the University of Calgary. I have been teaching at the University of Victoria since 1995.

Research and Teaching Interests

My main area of interest is the representation of urban spaces in literature and film. I am particularly interested in how cities are portrayed in literature in times of major political and economic shifts/ upheavals. I focus primarily on the Cuban narrative of the Special Period and its written construction of the city of Havana. I have also researched Barcelona’s urban development since its nomination for the 1992 Olympic Games until today.
I became fascinated with the history of cinema as an undergraduate student at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Film noir was always my favourite genre because it contains a strong element of social commentary. Nowadays I am interested in this genre because the hard-boiled novels that inspired these films also influenced the Cuban writer Leonardo Padura and his famous detective novels, set in Havana during the 90s.

Principal Teaching Areas

  • Spanish as a Second Language (ELE)
  • Film Censorship Under Franco
  • Cuban Narrative of the Special Period
  • Spanish Cultural Studies

Recent Conference Presentations

  • All About the Divas: Margo Channing and Huma Rojo in Almodovar’s All About My Mother. 37th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies. University of Victoria, October 13, 2023.

  • Velázquez. La novela gráfica y el componente cultural en la clase de ELE. LVIII Congreso de la Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Virtual, June 2-5, 2022 

  • Aplicaciones prácticas de los cursos EIDELE en el contexto académico. V Jornada de formación de profesores de español Universidad de Salamanca-Edinumen. Virtual, October 14-15, 2021

  • La cabina (The Phonebooth): Censorship and Horror in the final years of Franco’s Dictatorship. Paper read for panel on “Film III Horror: La Cabina, Day of the Dead & The Cabin in the Woods”. PCA National conference 2021, Virtual, June 1-5, 2021.

  • Panel organizer and presenter. Mi querida señorita: Género y censura en el cine español del tardofranquismo. Paper read for panel on “La incógnita travesti: arqueologías trans*, excentricidades del género y artes escénicas. España, siglos XV-XX”. LVII Congreso de la Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Virtual, June 1-4, 2021.

  • Interseccions entre Barcelona i l’Havana: les construccions de l’espai urbà de José Luis Guerín i Carlos Garaicoa. 17th International Colloquium of the North American Catalan Society (NACS), University of Chicago, April 27-29, 2019.

  • Marketing Spain’s Difference: Depictions of Early Tourism in Bienvenido Mr. Marshall and El Verdugo. 34th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies Department: The Art of Cultural Tourism in the Hispanic and Italian World. University of Victoria, October 11th, 2018.

  • Tricky Cristina Barcelona: Teaching Cultural Literacy through Film. International Conference on Second Language Pedagogies (SLPC7), University of Victoria, June 25-26, 2018.

  • Las tribus urbanas en Herejes. PCA/ACA National Conference 2015. New Orleans, April 1-4, 2015.

  • Género Enmascarado: el teatro cubano durante el Quinquenio Gris en Máscaras de Leonardo Padura. 30th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies Department: Performing Gender and Genre in the Hispanic and Italian World. University of Victoria, March 4, 2015.

  • Reflexión sobre la ciudad trasatlántica: una construcción habanera de Barcelona. IX Spanish Matters Colloquium. Western Washington University, Bellingham, April 17-18, 2014.

  • Las (de)construcciones urbanas de Carlos Garaicoa y José Luis Guerín. Congreso Cuba Trasatlántica. La Universidad de La Habana and Brown University, Havana, June 10-14, 2013.

  • Las Habanas de Abilio Estévez. 28th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies Department: Literature and Resistance in the Hispanic and Italian World. University of Victoria, October 26, 2012.