Liesder Mayea Rodríguez

Associate Professor of Spanish and Faculty Athletic Representative
Chair of Modern Literature and Languages Director of Latin American Studies

Liesder Mayea

Education

Ph.D. Spanish, Univeristy of California, Riverside, 2009 Chancellor's Fellowship

MA: Spanish, San Diego State University, 2006

BA: with majors in: Art History, Spanish, and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University, 2003

AA: Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Southwestern College, 2005

Contact

Hall of Letters
114
P: 909.748.8461
E: liesder_mayea@redlands.edu

Areas of Expertise

  • Medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature. 

Academic Interests

The classics of the Western World. My interests range from fields like Art History and comparative literature to mythology and religious studies. I also have special interest in the clash of the three major cultures (religions) of the Iberian Peninsula during the middle ages and the Renaissance: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity and the role of literature in this clash. I am also interested in the history of architecture. 

Current Research

My current research in part focuses on the Quixote and the diverse cultural, literary, religious, and mythological sources or contexts for the classic work. I am also writing a study of drama from a historiographical point of view, and using a comparative perspective going as far back as classical (greek) drama, shakesperean drama, and the Spanish comedia. This evidently implies reviewing authors such as Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Calderón de la Barca.

Description of Research

My research has focused on the classics of Western Literature, with specific emphasis in the Spanish classics. Furthermore, my masters thesis focused on Erasmus of Rotterdam and Miguel de Cervantes, and a comparative approach to literature and painting during the transitory period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Spain.

 

Courses Taught

Spanish 101 and 102 (Elementary Spanish) 

Spanish 201 and 202 (Intermediate Spanish) 

Spanish 301 and 302 (Composition)

Spanish 412 (Advanced Grammar)

Spanish 425 (Latin American Culture)

Spanish 436 and 437 (Surveys of Spanish Literature)

Spanish 454 (Golden Age Literature)

Spanish 455 (Generation of 1898)

Spanish 456 (Modern Spanish Novel)

Spanish 458 and 459 (Senior Seminar on Don Quixote)

Experience

Assistant Professor of Spanish (University of Redlands)

Publications

Contexts for Don Quixote and Quixotism: Beyond Hero or Fool. University of California. Dissertation. 2009

Erasmo, Cervantes: Literatura y arte español durante la vida de ambos personajes. San Diego State, 2006.

"The Future of the Latin American Nation State." Osa Mayor. Journal of the University of Pittsburgh 19 (2008): 101-107.

Awards, Honors, Grants

Chancellor's Outstanding Fellowship UCR

Phi Beta Kappa 

Omicron Delta Kappa

Sigma Delta Pi