Core Curriculum at Butler University

Also earning Full Professor this year is Irune Gabiola from the department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

Her comments:

"There are so many fabulous things about Butler but, mostly, my favorite part is having so many colleagues who are great friends :-).

My second book Affect, Ecofeminism and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America: A Tribute to Berta Caceres has just been released. And in the meantime, I am finishing the last round of reviews of my article “Berta vive”: Solidaridades (trans)nacionales y luchas interseccionales en Honduras” that will published by the end of this month in Middle Atlantic Review of Latin American Studies. As I am finishing this article, I am preparing for a new project on women’s literature and activism in Central America. I have been incorporating some of this material in the GHS Frontiers in Latin American course that I am teaching this summer. Drawing upon a class on environmental studies and gender studies that I taught a few years ago and on my book, I would like to design a course in Spanish examining the impacts of extractivist projects on indigenous communities. I continue my commitment to social justice by serving on the executive committees of both the Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and the Global and Historical Studies programs.

Well, something unexpected happened recently when I went to Spain for a week over spring break and I ended up falling sick with COVID 19, “sharing” it with my family, moving the courses online and finishing the last revisions of the book. So this week trip turned into a 3 month lockdown that I happily got to spend with my mom :-).

In these tumultuous times, I would advice my students to, please, listen to the experiences and stories of those they are not familiar with, so that they can understand what it means to navigate life from different perspectives. I would fiercely recommend them to study abroad and travel as much as they can because those will be some of the most transformative experiences of their lives."