By Kelly O’Toole
Prepared for the Friends of Rutgers English Newsletter

Professor Maria Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, who goes by Josie Saldaña, immediately notices a difference between the English Department at Rutgers and the Department at Brown University, where she has been an Associate Professor since 1997. Professor Saldaña's work focuses on Latin American Studies and postcolonialism, and she notes that there is a refreshing depth in her field of study at Rutgers. "It's nice to be in a department of sixty people and have five within my specific area," she says, "It's nice to not be the only one." This idea of not being "the only one" is a prevalent theme in Professor Saldaña's scholarly work and teaching.

Originally from Texas, Professor Saldaña grew up on the border of Mexico in an environment that she describes as "bilingual, bi-national, and bi-cultural." Consequently, Professor Saldaña publishes in both English and Spanish, and notes that "Latin American modes of thought heavily influence my writing and tone." Her book, The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development, reflects the influence of Latin American thinkers, writers, activists, and revolutionaries. According to Professor Saldaña, she "became interested in models of revolutionary subjectivity early in my life, especially figures I grew up with and figures from after the Second World War." Her book is an in-depth analysis of texts and manifestos written by these influential figures.

Professor Saldaña teaches a course on Chicano/Chicana literature and a seminar in postcolonial literature at Rutgers, both of which include not only literature and criticism but also film and performance arts. She feels that her students develop a better understanding of Latino culture by studying it in various forms. However, she thinks that Latino culture in general - and Latinas in particular - are underrepresented in mass culture. "What representation?" she asks, and with a laugh adds, "Who is there? J.Lo? George Lopez's wife? I just read that there is one Latino for every fifty white people portrayed on TV." She pauses and exclaims, "One for every fifty on TV, when in the actual population, the ratio is one for every six! So, have representations of Latinas in mass culture come very far? I don't think so." One of Professor Saldaña's goals is to remind students of the real ratios in American society.

The idea of "not being the only one" is fully appreciated by her students. "Many of my students at Rutgers are Latinas and biracial and have never had anyone put their experiences into words," Professor Saldaña says. "Representation has so much power," she says, that frequently "women in my classes cry because I show them films of themselves for the first time. They have never seen representations of themselves on screen before. That absence of representation is so unconscious already, they've never even thought about it."

Ultimately, Professor Saldaña hopes that students in her courses will "realize that, although they study historical periods, the issues surrounding postcolonialism and Latin America are not over, and that it is possible to envision a different future." Her scholarly work and her teaching strive to work out new models for that future.

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