Irune del Rio Gabiola

 

A native from Bilbao (Basque Country), I moved to the US in 2000 to pursue graduate studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. While I was growing up, I lived in France and Belgium which introduced me to different cultures and languages. From this exposure, I decided to study Latin American and Caribbean cultures while familiarizing myself with feminisms, queer studies, postcolonial and transatlantic studies.

Over my twelve years at Butler, I have developed numerous original courses including “Women on the Road: Representations on Women’s Migrations in Hispanic Cultures”, “Slavery in the New World”, “Revisiting History through Film”, or “The Role of Sports in the Construction of Gender, Sexuality, Race and National Identity”, “Women Going Green: Tales of Toxic Environment and Corporate Waste” among many others. These courses inform my students’ intellectual curiosity and expose them to a multiplicity of perspectives on identity, critical thinking, and sociocultural awareness. I am fortunate to work at a University where I can expand my desire to always learn new material through teaching courses that I am passionate about, and connecting them with research. Similarly, I have been able to intersect teaching interests with my research agenda on alternative family and nation formations in the Caribbean; what led to the publication of my first book.

Likewise, my area of research has been extended due to the flexibility offered by Butler to study new regions and topics of inquiry through Study Abroad programs, and instructional and research grants. My second books explores affect theory, ecofeminisms, intersectional struggles, and social activisms in Honduras, Central America. The tragic death of Berta Cáceres led me to develop an intellectual and critical mindset regarding extractivism in Latin America, which is one of the most violent forms of neocolonialism exercised upon indigenous communities whose land and human rights have been completely erased. Furthermore, the urgency to conceptualize and validate alternative ecological cosmologies based on affective relations with nature and with others presents potential for democratic encounters, radical transformation, and social justice.