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Biography
My work experience to date includes teaching Spanish language and Central American literature across institutions in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland and the United Kingdom, a transnational trajectory that has enabled me to engage with diverse student cohorts whilst designing and delivering curricula that are both academically rigorous and culturally responsive.
In 2007, I joined the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham as Coordinator for Spanish Language. In this capacity, I have provided strategic leadership for the Spanish language programme across all levels, from ab initio to advanced English-Spanish translation. My responsibilities have included curriculum design, development of assessment strategies, quality assurance, and the coordination and delivery of teaching across the programme. I have overseen course leadership, contributed to pedagogical innovation, and ensured coherence and progression across modules. Alongside these academic duties, I have provided sustained pastoral support to undergraduate students and supervised MA and PhD research, mentoring postgraduate researchers in both linguistic and literary studies.
My research focuses on twentieth-century Central American poetry, examined as both a literary practice and a form of intellectual intervention within the political landscape of late twentieth-century Latin America. My doctoral thesis posits the work of Ernesto Cardenal, Roque Dalton and Oto René Castillo - widely regarded as among the most influential Central American poets of the twentieth century - within the broader postcolonial problematic of Latin America. It examines the construction and deconstruction of metanarratives in the poetry of the period: in the understanding and revision of historiographical models of conquest and imperialism, particularly in the light of the Cuban revolution and ideas surrounding the "New Man". It traces the use of the poetic voice as a representative of the most marginalised in society - the poor and the indigenous population - and the emergence of a transnational Latin American aesthetic of social justice which has become key to the region's identity.
Alongside my literary research, I maintain a sustained engagement with language teaching pedagogy and second language acquisition. Since completing my undergraduate degree, I have studied and applied theoretical and practical approaches to language learning, integrating research-informed methodologies into curriculum design and classroom practice. I have undertaken extensive professional training in examination-focused and proficiency-based programmes, including programmes delivered by World Learning, the internationally recognised organisation that prepares language teachers for the Peace Corps and holds accreditation from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. I apply this training directly to curriculum design, assessment development, and classroom practice, ensuring that my teaching is research-informed and aligned with international language proficiency standards.
I hold a Diploma in Higher Education in Second Language Teaching and Acquisition, a BA in Philology, and both an MA and a PhD in Hispanic Studies, with a specialisation in Central American poetry.
In collaboration with Universidad de El Salvador, I am currently contributing to a major oral history project dedicated to documenting the lived experiences of survivors of the Salvadoran civil war (1980-1992). This initiative involves the collection, transcription and critical analysis of recorded testimonies, with particular attention to memory, trauma and the politics of narrative reconstruction. The project seeks not only to preserve first-hand accounts of the conflict but also to examine how personal testimony reshapes national historiography and challenges official or hegemonic narratives of the war. By foregrounding voices historically marginalised in public discourse, the research contributes to ongoing processes of historical reckoning, cultural memory and transitional justice in El Salvador. It also establishes an archive of significant scholarly and social value, ensuring that these testimonies remain accessible to future researchers, educators and communities directly affected by the conflict.