Research Papers
Here are some projects and papers, in Spanish and English, that I've written as a student at Framingham State University and UMASS Boston.
Virus Tropical: An exercise in comics translation
The object of my study is Virus Tropical, a graphic novel by PowerPaola. For this project, I study the translation of comics. More specifically, I want to focus on the two main elements of comics: text and images. This project is divided into two parts. First, I explore the problems of comics translation such as humor, icons, and cultural references and illustrate them with some examples from the book. As for the images, I take four without text, two at the beginning of the chapters and two within the chapters, analyze them, and study how they can help the readers of the source and target texts as well as the translator.
Spanish version
English version
The Criteria for Good Website Localization Applied to the U.S. Embassy’s Websites for Three Spanish-speaking Countries
This research project attempts to accomplish two goals. The first is to establish a set of criteria for how a well-localized website should be. These criteria are then used to examine the website of the U.S. Embassy for three Spanish-speaking countries: Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Each website has an international version in English and a localized website in Spanish. The Spanish versions of each website are closely compared with their English counterparts in order to determine if they have been localized well. The Spanish website for each country is then compared with each other.
How Latin American Spanish developed and became distinct from Castilian Spanish
In this paper, I explain how Latin American Spanish developed, the differences and similarities between Latin American and Castilian Spanish, and the characteristics of Mexican, Cuban, and Argentine Spanish.
Ideals of the Cuban Revolution 60 Years Later
This project, written in Spanish, looks at some of the ideals of the Cuban Revolution (education, healthcare, social justice, economy) and analyzes whether they have been achieved.
Novela del trujillato y la literatura de la resistencia
This paper, written in Spanish, looks at the development and characteristics of three types of resistance literature from Latin America, particularly the Dominican Republic. These are the "novela del Trujillato", the "novela del dictador", and women's testimonies.
La inmigración vista a través de la película: Sin Nombre y Un día sin mexicanos
In this paper, I explore different aspects of immigration in the United States and how it's portrayed in two Spanish movies: Sin Nombre and Un día sin mexicanos.
Un señor muy viejo con alas enormes
This paper, written in Spanish, gives a brief summary of the story's plot and important elements followed by an analysis of two of the story's themes.
Ofelia y el viaje del héroe en El laberinto del fauno: la deconstrucción del héroe tradicional del género fantástico
In this essay, I look at Pan's Labyrinth and analyzes different aspects of the movie to show that Ofelia isn't a typical fantasy hero.
Una novela como arma de protesta social: el honor en Crónica de una muerte anunciada
This paper, written in Spanish, has three parts. First is an exploration of the concept of honor. The next part studies the honor system in Latin America. Finally, there is an analysis of how honor is portrayed in Márquez's novel and how it's used as social criticism.