Hello! My name is Juliana Luna Freire and I am an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Framingham State University, just outside Boston. My scholarship focuses on 19th to 21st-Century Latin American and Spanish Literature, Cultural Studies and Film with a focus on ethnic identity, urban space, and gender. I am excited to join the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies editorial team.
I also previous experience in local and international editorial boards, including volunteering with The Arizona Journal of Hispanic Studies, working as editor and editorial assistant of the graduate journal Divergencias (the University of Arizona), having peer-reviewed for journals such as Hispania, Crisolenguas, Rocky Mountain Review, and currently am member of the editorial board of Pró-Letras, published by the Universidade Federal da Paraiba, in Brazil.
My dissertation was entitled “Ethnic Minorities in Brazil and Spain: Erasure & Stigmatization, Gender, and Self-Representation of Indigenous and Roma Communities” (2012). Specifically, I have published articles on urban space and its relationship to discourses of identity (race, ethnicity, and national affiliation) in contexts of contemporary globalization, bringing into the discussion the relationship between New Media and the use of city areas. This research project has led to a manuscript focusing on Roma self-representation in Spain, as well as other published articles. At the moment, I am doing research on systemic violence and its representation in the Luso-Brazilian world, and the ways how “rhyzomatic revolutions” have been taking place in increasingly networked societies (Castells, Merrifield).
Anyway, I am looking forward to participating here, and thank you for reading!
urbanculturalstudies 