Biography
Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins received her B.A. in Spanish and Art History and M.A. in Spanish from The University of Alabama. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance Studies from the University of Miami.
Research Interests
Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins is Associate Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Texas State University. She received her B.A. in Spanish and Art History and M.A. in Spanish from The University of Alabama, and her Ph.D. in Romance Studies from the University of Miami.
Her research examines 20th- and 21st-century Latin American narrative, theatre, and performance, with a focus on questions of space, embodiment, and representation. Her 2017 scholarly manuscript with Bucknell University Press studies narrative and performance in the Hispanic Caribbean, with particular attention to how artists engage themes of representation, embodiment, and national belonging. She has also published articles in Chasqui, Romance Studies, Decimonónica, Ámbitos Feministas, and Letras Femeninas, among others.
Dr. Perkins’s current book project explores how depictions of absent maternal figures in Puerto Rican literature reflect colonial history, cultural memory, and gendered violence across generations of writers. This research brings together literary analysis, archival study, and feminist theory to consider how maternal absence functions as a central trope in narratives of identity and belonging.
She also conducts research on humanities education at Texas State University, where she has examined how career-focused practices can be integrated into liberal arts teaching and curriculum design. Her work emphasizes the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, the importance of making transferable skills explicit in the classroom, and the development of humanities-centered initiatives that prepare students for diverse professional pathways.
Her research examines 20th- and 21st-century Latin American narrative, theatre, and performance, with a focus on questions of space, embodiment, and representation. Her 2017 scholarly manuscript with Bucknell University Press studies narrative and performance in the Hispanic Caribbean, with particular attention to how artists engage themes of representation, embodiment, and national belonging. She has also published articles in Chasqui, Romance Studies, Decimonónica, Ámbitos Feministas, and Letras Femeninas, among others.
Dr. Perkins’s current book project explores how depictions of absent maternal figures in Puerto Rican literature reflect colonial history, cultural memory, and gendered violence across generations of writers. This research brings together literary analysis, archival study, and feminist theory to consider how maternal absence functions as a central trope in narratives of identity and belonging.
She also conducts research on humanities education at Texas State University, where she has examined how career-focused practices can be integrated into liberal arts teaching and curriculum design. Her work emphasizes the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, the importance of making transferable skills explicit in the classroom, and the development of humanities-centered initiatives that prepare students for diverse professional pathways.
Teaching Interests
Latin American Civilization
Latin American Literature
Advanced Grammar
Humanities Education and Career-Focused Pedagogy
Latin American Literature
Advanced Grammar
Humanities Education and Career-Focused Pedagogy