Sophie Marinez
Professor
Deputy Chairperson
Modern Languages
EMAIL: smarinez@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: S-601R
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-8144
Sophie Maríñez is a Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where she won a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2021. She is also an affiliated Professor in the Ph.D. Program in French at The Graduate Center and regularly teaches as a visiting faculty for the M.A. in the Study of the Americas at City College’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Her current research lies at the intersection of aesthetics, literature, history, and music. Her new book, Spirals in the Caribbean: Representing Violence and Connection in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) examines Afro-diasporic cultural productions from the Francophone and Spanish-speaking Caribbean and their diasporas with emphasis on the foundational episodes of violence (and its connections) perpetrated on the island shared by these two nations. Prior to this, she authored Mademoiselle de Montpensier: Writings, Chateaux, and Female Self-Construction in Early Modern France (2017), and coedited Jacques Viau Renaud: J’essaie de vous parler de ma patrie (Mémoire d’encrier, 2018). She has published numerous essays and articles on Caribbean literature.
She is twice an awardee (2012 and 2022) of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a 2021 Mellon/ACLS Fellow, and a former CUNY William P. Kelly Research Fellow, Faculty Fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics of the Graduate Center, and Faculty Leadership Fellow at BMCC. In 2021, she was a Visiting Scholar at El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, & Latin American Studies at the University of Connecticut. She is also Caribbean Series Editor at Brill, a long-standing academic press in Europe. Her next project, also funded by he ACLS, explores transatlantic relations between France and Latin American in the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the Caribbean.
Professor Maríñez is also a poet, a non-fiction creative writer, and a literary translator. Her essays and poetry have appeared in The Boston Review, Small Axe Salon, The Caribbean Quarterly, the Caribbean Writer, and The Cincinnati Romance Review. As a literary translator, she has translated into French the poetry of Julia Alvarez, Jacques Viau Renaud, and Frank Baez, among others.
Prior to her appointment at CUNY, she held a two-year visiting faculty position in French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College. An immigrant from a French and Dominican background and fully trilingual in French, Spanish, and English, she also speaks Portuguese and has worked as an actress, a professional translator, and a journalist. From 1997 to 2000, she was a diplomat, working as a Cultural Counselor at the embassy of the Dominican Republic in Mexico.
Expertise
Degrees
Courses Taught
- This course includes a review of grammar plus the study of French civilization and selected readings in French literature.
- This course involves intensive oral work consisting of discussions of French/Francophone films. Communicative activities and drills in pronunciation, intonation and rhythm are included as well as several oral presentations throughout the course. A wide variety of topics ranging from everyday life problems to major social and cultural issues will be discussed. Readings, written work, and discussions will be in French. Prerequisite: FRN 200 or departmental approval
- While reviewing advanced grammar, students are trained in literary analysis through the works of modern French authors.
Prerequisite: FRN 200 or departmental approval - This course explores literature written in French from countries outside of France. Works from French Canada, the Caribbean islands (Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti) as well as North and West Africa will be included. Themes highlighting cultural and social differences with France will be discussed. Readings, written work, and oral reports will be in French.
Prerequisite: FRN 300, or any FRN 400 level course (except FRN 476), or departmental approval - 3 CRS.3 HRS.NULL LAB HRS.FRN 430 (French Literature from the Middle Ages to the 17th Century)
- The chronological evolution of French literature and its relation to French culture, history, and ideas are studied. Major works by representative authors from the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries are read and discussed with emphasis on ideas and style. Written and oral reports are required.
Prerequisite: FRN 300, or any FRN 400 level course (except FRN 476), or departmental approval - This course concentrates on the literature of the Enlightenment and the 19th century as reflected in the poetry, fiction, and essays of a variety of authors in connection with ideas and styles developed during this period and/or with France’s historical relations across the globe. Written and oral reports are required. This course may be taken before French V.
Prerequisite: FRN 300, or any FRN 400 level course (except FRN 476), or departmental approval - The course reviews advanced grammar and syntax and includes composition exercises, with emphasis on developing advanced oral and written proficiency in French. Through the close analysis of texts on a wide range of cultural and social issues, students will learn strategies for writing organized, compelling essays. Students are expected to complete extensive grammar exercises, participate in discussions in class, and write short essays. Readings, written work, and discussions will be in French.
Prerequisite: FRN 210 or departmental approval - The objective of this course is to continue developing advanced oral and written proficiency in French through critical analysis of different texts covering a wide range of contemporary cultural and social issues. Emphasis is placed on writing persuasive and argumentative essays. Students are expected to keep a journal, a vocabulary log, actively participate in discussions in class, and write
short essays. Readings, written work, and discussions will be in French.
Prerequisite: FRN 300, or any FRN 400 level course (except FRN 476), or departmental approval - This course covers literature of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti as well as their respective diasporas across the globe, in English translation, with a focus on ideas and literary movements developed in connection to the colonial and post-colonial contexts. Readings, discussions and written work are conducted in English, but students who wish to read and write in French will be encouraged to do so.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 - This course examines the literary works of prominent French-speaking women writers, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, with an emphasis on fiction, poetry and essays on the question of women’s condition in different periods and geographical locations. While key female authors from continental France are included, the course also explores writings by women from various French-speaking locations across the globe. Readings and classwork conducted in English.
Prerequisite: ENG 101 - This is a study abroad course that will further develop students' four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in French. Students will consolidate their knowledge of grammar through contextualized analysis. Students will also do further work on selected contemporary themes related to French society and institutions (e.g., the press in France, cinema, food, etc.)
Prerequisite: FRN 106 or FRN 121 or departmental approval - This course focuses on advanced composition skills and writing techniques. It helps students to fine tune their grammar and develop their own creative voice through the reading of representative and contemporary authors and the writing of a variety of personal narrations, both fictional and non-fictional such as memoirs/mini-autobiographies, short stories and blogs.
Prerequisite: SPN 300 or any SPN 400 level course (except SPN 476) or departmental approval
Research and Projects
Publications
- “Nelly Rosario: Escritora dominicana en Nueva York.” Interview. 2002, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Michele Voltaire Marcelin”, Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography.2016, Oxford University Press
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Luis Dias, musico” 1996, Periodico Hoy, Dominican Republic
- “Hermaphrodite,” Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Eds. Malti-Douglas, Fedwa, Jamsheed Choksy, Judith Roof, and Francesca C. Sautman, pp.684-686. 2007, Detroit : Macmillan Reference, pp. 684-686.
- “Alvarez, Julia,” Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Eds. Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. Gonzalez 2005, Oxford University Press
- “Espaillat, Rhina” Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Eds. Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. Gonzalez 2005, Oxford University Press
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Julia Alvarez, escritora.” Interview1997, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Claudio Mir, actor y artista visual”. Interview. 1997, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “La Marilyn Monroe de Saint Domingue” a translation into French of the poem by Frank Baez2015, K1N
- “Dominican Writers in the United States,” Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Eds. Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. Gonzalez 2005, Oxford University Press
- “Alegoria de una hermandad atormentada en Marassa y la Nada de Alanna Lockward”2012, Periodico Hoy, Dominican Republic
- Dominicanish, de Josefina Baez: la translocalizacion de los simbolos 2002, Agulha, Revista de Cultura, first published in Listin Diario on 06/17/2001
- Alegorias de una hermandad atormentada: Haiti en la literatura dominicana, in “Quisqueya is my lakay”: Challenging de-nationalization, waving the national identity. Special Issue on the Haitian-Dominican Conflict.2016, Memorias. Revista Digital de Historia y Arqueologia desde el Caribe, Barranquilla, Colombia
- “Mito y feminismo en Marassa y la Nada de Alanna Lockward” 2016, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispanicos, University of Ottawa (40.2)
- “Altagracia Carrasco, artista visual,” Interview. 1999, Revista Rumbo, pp. 58-59
- “Diaz, Junot,” Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Eds. Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. Gonzalez 2005, Oxford University Press, pp. 504-505
- Rezension von: Sara Galletti, Le palais du Luxembourg de Marie de Medicis, 1611-1631, Paris: Picard, 2012, 2013, sehepunkte
- “Straighten Those Curls! Style, Gender, and Morality in Seventeenth-Century French Treatises of Architecture”2012, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature 49:76, pp. 13-33
- “Noche retrospectiva en honor a Luis Dias en Nueva York: Ay, que guachiman tan buenmozo!” 2015, 7dias.com
- “Salsa Celtica: Un Morir-Sonando Musical.” Rev. of musical concert. 2001, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Ingrid Madera, artista visual.” Interview. 2000, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Loida Maritza Perez, escritora,” Interview. 1999, Revista Rumbo, pp. 56-57
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Mateo Gomez, actor,” Interview.1997, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- Sentencia del Infierno, a series of poems 2016, Cincinnati Romance Review, Special Issue, “Circum-Caribbean Poetics” (volume 40, spring 2016).
- “Poetica de la Relacion en Dominicanish de Josefina Baez,” Revista La Torre (10:35), pp. 149-160.2005, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
- “Bachata: Musica del Pueblo,” Rev. dir. Giovanni Savino. 2002, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Felix Limardo, director de cine.” Interview. 1997, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Adan Vazquez, arpista”1996, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Carnival Day in Santo Domingo”2015, Small Axe Literary Salon
- “‘My American Girls’: Cineasta lleva familia dominicana al cine.” Rev. of My American Girls, dir. Aaron Matthews. 2001, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “Juan Carlos Mieses: Ganador del Premio de Poesia Nicolas Guillen.” Interview. 2001, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- “El cine dominicano en los noventa: la diaspora en busca de un sueno”1998, Archipielago (2:16): 53-55
- “Dominicanos en Nueva York: Junot Diaz, escritor.” Interview1997, Seccion Cultural Ventana, Listin Diario, Dominican Republic
- DU MASSACRE DE 1937 AÂ LA SENTENCE 168-13 : CONFLIT FATAL OU SOLIDARITE ? Notes d’un parcours litteraire des rapports entre Haiti et la Republique Dominicaine2017, Chemins Critiques
- Le massacre de 1937: distorsions litteraires 2017, Revista Mexicana del Caribe
- Mademoiselle de Montpensier: Writings, Chateaux, and Female Self-Construction in Early Modern France 2017, Brill/Rodopi
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend award (2012)
- PSC-CUNY Traditional B Research Award (2012-2013)
- PSC-CUNY Traditional B Research Award (2013-2014)
- The Carolyn G. Heilbrun Dissertation Prize, The Graduate Center (2010).
- CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication Program (2015-2016)
- Faculty Advisor Achievement Award, Student Government Association, BMCC (2015)
- Faculty Fellowship, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, The Graduate Center/CUNY (2016-2017)
- 2016-2017 Faculty Fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, The Graduate Center
- PSC-CUNY Trad B Research Award (2017-2018)
