Noemi Fernandez Labarga
Research Associate, English
- Office
- 317 Bond Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556 - nfernan5@nd.edu
Research and teaching interests
20th and 21st century American Literature; African American Literature; Postcolonial Literature; Critical Race Theory; Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Biography
I am fascinated by how the rhetorical and thematic constructions of race in postbellum American literature have influenced broader racial narratives within US culture. I intend to use the types of questions that Morrison invokes in “The Trouble with Paradise” as a guide for my research: What does a “race specific/race free” language look like? To what degree—as readers—do we depend on racial markers and other identity signposts to navigate literature? What, if any, is the reconciliatory potential in language? I will draw from literary theory, political theory, and cultural studies to trace how this language operates with the ultimate aim of advancing Morrison’s linguistic project.
Representative publications
Fernández Labarga, N. (September 2020). “‘No Gray Middle Folk Did He See’: Racial Constructions in Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree.” The Cormac McCarthy Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, 2020, pp. 118-136.