home

Dr. Silvia Colás Cardona

Position

Teaching Professor, Chair, Undergraduate Advisor (Spanish)

Contact

Office: CLE A409silviaco@uvic.ca 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. 34^th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies Department: The Art of Cultural Tourism in the Hispanic and Italian World. University of Victoria, October 11^th, 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. 30^th 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. 28^th Annual Colloquium of the Hispanic and Italian Studies Department: Literature and Resistance in the Hispanic and Italian World. University of Victoria, October 26, 2012.

Return to global menu.
Return to primary navigation.
Return to secondary navigation.
Return to page content.