Education

University of California, Berkeley

      Ph.D. in English. December 2015. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology                             

      Postdoctoral Fellowship / Visiting Scholar in Literature Section. 2015-2016.

      Predoctoral Fellowship / Visiting Scholar in Literature Section. 2014-2015.

California State University, Chico  

       M.A. in English. May 2007.

       B.A. in English & B.A. in Multicultural and Gender Studies: Option in Women’s Studies. May 2004.

 

Bio

Rosa Martínez is Associate Professor of English at Sacramento State, where she specializes and teaches courses in American Literature, from Early America to 1900, in addition to Chicana/Latina/o Literature. She received her Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley in Fall 2015 and, during her final year of the dissertation, joined the Literature Section at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a predoctoral fellowship. The following year, she remained at MIT for a postdoctoral fellowship and was invited to teach courses as well.

Arriving at Sacramento State in fall 2016, she has been at the campus ever since. She teaches a range of courses including, English 180L Chicano/Chicana Literature, subtitled "The Souls of Brown Folk," English 185E Chicana/Latina Women Writers, subtitled "Sisters of the 80's," English 120A Advanced Composition, subtitled "Cervantes's Don Quixote," English 170 Literatures of Sexuality, subtitled "Brown Love: Chicana/Latina/o & Native American Short Stories," and English 198T Senior Seminar, subtitled "Melville's Moby-Dick." During the 2020-2021 academic year, she received the Outstanding Teaching Award for College of Arts & Letters. Alongside teaching, she is the Chapter Advisor for Sigma Tau Delta, the English International Society, at Sacramento State, as well as an Officer for and Member of the Chicanx/Latinx Faculty and Staff Association at the campus. 

She has a chapter published in A New Companion to Herman Melville, titled "Intertexts: Melville's Cervantes" (September 2022, link). She was named a finalist for the Boston Review Annual Poetry Prize for her poem, "Paradise Is Burning" (October 2019), and has also been a featured poet for their celebration of Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month (September 2022). Her current projects include a book manuscript that focuses on racial passing's histories and historias, tentatively titled Extravagant Passing: Disability, Race, and Spanish Masquerade in Early U.S. Literatures, and, a creative manuscript of poetry and short stories, titled the bittersweet of it all.

Forthcoming article: "Ellen Craft’s Overlooked 'Spanish' Masquerade: Racially (Mis)Reading Hispanicism in Her Cross-Dressing, Feigning Disability, and Running to Sea" in the Journal of American Studies. 

Access her article: "Intertexts: Melville's Cervantes" published by Wiley-Blackwell, September 2022.

Read a review of her poem: "Poetry Collection: Uplifting Women's Voices" by Meghana Mysore, for National Poetry Month in Boston Review, April 2021.

Read her poem: "Paradise is Burning" published in Boston Review, October 2019.

 

Publications

Books

Extravagant Passing: Disability, Race, and Spanish Masquerade in Early U.S. Literatures (In progress, chapter published)

the bittersweet of it all (In progress, first poem published)

Chapters and Articles

“Intertexts: Melville's Cervantes.” In A New Companion to Herman Melville. Second Edition. Edited by Wyn Kelley and Christopher Ohge. Wiley-Blackwell. September 2022.

Creative Writing

“Paradise Is Burning.” Boston Review. Judged by Ladan Osman. Finalist. Annual Poetry Contest. Oct 2019. <http://bostonreview.net/arts-society/rosa-angelica-martinez-paradise-is-burning>

Online Courses

“Writing About Literature: Writing About Love.” MIT OpenCourseWare. May 2017. <http://ocw2.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-021-comedy-spring-2016/index.htm>

“Comedy: Gender, Comedy, and the Body.” MIT OpenCourseWare. March 2017. <http://ocw2.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-021-comedy-spring-2016/index.htm>

Reviews

Maya Ellen Coleman, "Dear Amerikkka" (Center on Race, Immigration & Social Justice, 2021). Un/Equal Freedoms: Expressions for Social Justice Art Project. <https://crisj.org/artists/maya-coleman>

Susan Schweik, The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public (New York University Press, 2009). UC Berkeley English Department Blog. <https://berkeleyenglishblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/>

Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). Journal of Lesbian Studies. Vol. 12 (2-3), 2008, 315-320. <https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160802161521>

Catrióna Rueda Esquibel, With Her Machete in Her Hand: Reading Chicana Lesbians (U of Texas Press, 2006). Journal of Lesbian Studies. Vol. 10 (3-4), 2006.

            

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

ENGL 65: An Introduction to World Literatures in English (Wretched Love)

ENGL 120A: Advanced Composition (Cervantes's Don Quixote)

ENGL 170K: Masters of the Short Story (Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville & Writers of Color)

ENGL 170M: Literatures of Sexuality (19C to 20C Queer Bodies; Brown Love: Chicana/Latina/o & Native American Short Stories)

ENGL 180L: Chicano Literature (The Souls of Brown Folk in Autobiography)

ENGL 185E: Chicana/Latina Women Writers (Sisters of the 80's)

ENGL 198T: Senior Seminar (Melville's Moby-Dick; Racial Passing Narratives)

ENGL 198X: Senior Portfolio (From College to Career)

Graduate

ENGL 230E: Writing and Theorizing Memoir (Moments of Being)

ENGL 250Z: Special Topics in American Literature (The Novelist on Love)

ENGL 250L: American Women Writers (Passing, Pioneering)

ENGL 240Z: Special Topics in British Literature (Virginia Woolf)

 

Conference Presentations (Selected)

“Anti-Blackness and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Chicanx/Latinx Communities.” Fall 2020 Convocation: Advancing Our Commitment to Antiracism. Organized by the Chicanx/Latinx Faculty and Staff Association. Moderators: Elvia Ramirez and Gerardo Cabral. Sacramento State. September 2020.

“Melville and His Mosses.” American Literature Association Conference. Panel Sponsored by the Melville Society, titled: "Green Melville." Moderator Tom Nurimi. San Diego, California, May 2020.

“Toni Morrison: Writing, Live, and Love.” A Tribute to Toni Morrison. Underground Books, Sacramento, California. Feb. 2020. Audio Available Upon Request.

“Melville’s Spanish Masquerade into (Babo’s) American Gothic.” 12th International Melville Studies Conference. “Melville’s Origins.” Panel “Gothic Melville.” New York University, New York, June 2019.

“Ellen Craft’s Extravagant Passing & Transnational Masquerades.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. “TransCulture.” Las Vegas, Nevada, May 2018.

“he was either a ‘woman or a genius’:
 Ellen Craft’s Spanish Masquerade in Running (1860).” C19: Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. “The Hemispheric South and the (Un)Common Ground of Comparability” Seminar with Kirsten Silva-Gruesz and Anna Brickhouse. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Mar. 2014    

 

Teaching Awards

Outstanding Teaching Award for College of Arts & Letters (2020-2021)

Curriculum Redesign Award (2019-2020)

    The New English MA: Standardized Syllabi, Portfolio Projects, Culminating Exam (2020)

    HIP – Portfolio English Major: PRISM (2019)

 

Scholarly Awards

Scholarly & Creative Activity Awards

     2020 | “Gothic Melville & Writing Benito Cereno” 

     2019 | “Cervantes’ Influence Upon the 19C” 

Research and Creative Activity

     2018 | “Melville’s Spanish Reading” 

All Peoples Recognition Ceremony

     2017-2018 | Student Nomination, Presented by CSU, Sacramento’s Multicultural Center, for making a difference at the campus and contributing to an inclusive environment by promoting goals of diversity and social justice

 

Guest Speaker

Reader. Poetry Reading with Josh McKinney and Rosa Martinez. U-Nite. Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, Nov. 2019.

Reader. Melville’s Benito Cereno. Notable Books. Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA, Oct. and Nov. 2019

Panelist. A Twentieth-Century Global History of Drag in Art and Visual Culture. Panel: "History of Drag." Title: "A Drag History in Chicanx/Latinx Autobiographies." Sac State, CA, Oct. 2019.

Reader. Selected Readings from the bittersweet of it all. Calaveras Journal & Open Mic. University Library. Sacramento State, CA, April 2019.

Panelist. “IN-QUEER-Y: Conversation about Trans and Queer Identity and Lived Experiences.” One Book Day featuring Wayne Maines & Nicole Maines. University Union Ballroom. Sacramento State, CA, October 2018.

Panelist. Lessons on Rebellion: Queer Women Who Rebel. Faculty Panel. Sacramento State, CA, March 2017.

Reader. Poetry Reading with Marcello Hernandez Castillo and Rosa Martinez. Selected Readings from the bittersweet of it all. Sacramento Poetry Center. Sacramento, CA, January. 2017.

Introduction. She’s the Man: A Drag Queen Performance. DeFlorez Humor Fund. MIT, Cambridge, MA, May 2016.

Reader. Passing and Extravagantly So: The Figure & Narrative of Masquerade. Faculty Workshop. MIT, Dec. 2014.

Reader. Somebody Blew Up America. Holloway Series: Honoring the Life and Work of Le Roi Jones/Amiri Baraka. C. S. Giscombe, Jane Gregory, Steven Lee, Nilofar Gardezi. UC Berkeley, Oct. 2014. Available Online

Introduction. Ana Castillo & Chicanas in Higher Education. An Evening with Ana Castillo. UC Berkeley, Nov. 2009. Available Online