April 27, 2023
Meghan O'Toole
Marilén Loyola co-edited book project earns international grant
The Mediterranean Studies Association (MSA) has awarded its 2023 Grant for International Interdisciplinary Projects to the book project Sea Change: Representations of Transformation in the Caribbean and Mediterranean, which is being co-edited by Lake Forest College Assistant Professor of Spanish Marilén Loyola.
Sea Change is an edited volume with a multinational roster of authors who specialize in a wide range of disciplines. The scholarly perspectives represented in the book promise to advance the MSA's goal of supporting interdisciplinary approaches that ensure the internationality of the student experience.
Loyola, who specializes in contemporary Spanish theater, memory/trauma studies, and Latin American history/culture, is collaborating with Jessica Boll from Carroll University, specialist in Christian-Muslim interactions in contemporary Spain, and Sharon Meilahn Bartlett from McGraw-Hill Higher Education, specialist in gender and masculinities in the Algerian and Haitian contexts.
“While there are many studies regarding the Caribbean and Mediterranean that analyze the two regions separately or focus on how they are connected through their histories of colonialism and slavery, for example, there are few that juxtapose them in terms of their transatlantic connections in the 20th-21st centuries,” Loyola said. “Our volume is also unique for its interdisciplinary humanities approach and its focus on representations of change in a wide variety of cultural texts and productions. Our hope is that Sea Change will serve as a foundational study for this type of project moving forward.”
The co-editors, who have been friends for years, saw common threads across their work and are united not only by the transatlantic context of their studies, but also by their common work experiences at private liberal arts institutions.
The $5,000 grant will help the editors offset publication costs and develop supporting pedagogical resources for the book. Loyola said that the editorial team is currently in talks with three academic publishers who have expressed interest in the project.
“Like the Mediterranean Studies Association, we are committed to promoting the internationality and interdisciplinarity of the student experience and encouraging further innovative research in Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Transatlantic Studies,” Loyola said. “We are very grateful for this award and the recognition and opportunity it signifies.”
The scholars are also developing pedagogical materials for the volume so its chapters can be used in undergraduate and graduate classroom settings.