Dr Catherine Leen

    Spanish & Latin American Studies, School of Modern Languages

    Associate Professor
    First Year Coordinator

    Arts Building
    33
    (01) 708 6214

    Biography

    Dr Catherine Leen is Associate Professor and Fulbright Ambassador at Maynooth University, Ireland. Her teaching and research interests centre on Mexican and Chicana/o literature and cinema and Argentine and Paraguayan cultures. She has published widely on Chicana/o writers, such as Sandra Cisneros and Tomás Rivera, and on Chicana/o and Latin American cinematographers. In 2008, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Chicana/o Studies Centre at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her edited volume International Perspectives on Chicana/o Culture: “This World is My Place,” coedited by Dr Niamh Thornton was published by Routledge, New York, in 2014 and reissued in paperback in 2017. Her most recent publications include 'Deconstructing the Divas: Music in Arturo Ripstein's El lugar sin límites and La reina de la noche' in The Films of Arturo Ripstein: The Sinister Gaze of the World (2019) and ‘From Don Juan to Dolores Huerta: Foundational Chicana/o Films,’ in The Routledge Handbook of Chicana/o Studies (2018).  She is currently completing a monograph on Latina/o filmmakers and Mexico.

    Research Interests

    Chicano Culture, Literature and Cinema; Latin American Literature and Cinema; Latino and Latin American Art; Translation

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2020 'Aliens as Superheroes: Science Fiction, Immigration and the Photography of Dulce Pinzón'
    Catherine Leen (2020) 'Aliens as Superheroes: Science Fiction, Immigration and the Photography of Dulce Pinzón' In: Niamh Thornton and Miriam Haddu (eds). Legacies of the Past: Memory and Trauma in Mexican Visual and Screen Cultures. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. [DOI] [Details]
    2020 'Public Intellectuals'
    Catherine Leen and Niamh Thornton (2020) 'Public Intellectuals' In: Wilfried Raussert, Giselle Liza Anatol, Sebastian Thies, Sarah Corona Berkin, José Carlos Lozano (eds). The Routledge Handbook on Culture and Media of the Americas. New York: Routledge. [DOI] [Details]
    2019 'Deconstrucing the Divas: Music in Arturo Ripstein’s El lugar sin límites and La reina de la noche'
    Catherine Leen (2019) 'Deconstrucing the Divas: Music in Arturo Ripstein’s El lugar sin límites and La reina de la noche' In: Luis Duno Gottberg, Manuel Gutiérrez Silva (eds). The Films of Arturo Ripstein: The Sinister Gaze of the World. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Details]
    2018 ''La vaquilla''
    Catherine Leen (2018) ''La vaquilla'' In: Salvador Jimenez Murgía, Alex Pinar (eds). The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Films. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. [Details]
    2018 'From Don Juan to Dolores Huerta: Foundational Chicana/o Films'
    Catherine Leen (2018) 'From Don Juan to Dolores Huerta: Foundational Chicana/o Films' In: Denise Segura, Francisco E. Lomelí, Elyette Benjamin (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Chicana/o Studies. New York: Routledge. [full-text] [Details]
    2017 'Kissing the Spiderwoman and Loving the Awful Grandmother: Popular Culture in Manuel Puig's El beso de la mujer araña and Sandra Cisnero's Caramelo'
    Catherine Leen (2017) 'Kissing the Spiderwoman and Loving the Awful Grandmother: Popular Culture in Manuel Puig's El beso de la mujer araña and Sandra Cisnero's Caramelo' In: Wilfried Raussert (eds). The Routledge Companion to Inter-American Studies. London and New York: Routledge. [full-text] [Details]
    2017 'Beyond the Spitfire: Re-Visioning Latinas in Sylvia Morales' A Crushing Love'
    Catherine Leen (2017) 'Beyond the Spitfire: Re-Visioning Latinas in Sylvia Morales' A Crushing Love' In: Deborah Shaw and Deborah Martin (eds). Latin American Women Filmmakers: Production, Politics, Poetics. London: IB Tauris. [full-text] [Details]
    2014 'Introduction'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2014) 'Introduction' In: International Perspectives on Chicana/o Studies: This World is My Place. New York: Routledge. [Details]
    2014 'Virgen Transatlantic: Religious Iconography in Irish and Chicana/o Art'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2014) 'Virgen Transatlantic: Religious Iconography in Irish and Chicana/o Art' In: International Perspectives on Chicana/o Studies: This World is My Place . New York: Routledge. [Details]
    2013 'The Silenced Screen: Fostering a Film Industry in Paraguay'
    Leen, C (2013) 'The Silenced Screen: Fostering a Film Industry in Paraguay' In: Contemporary Hispanic Cinema: Interrogating the Transnational in Spanish and Latin American Film. Suffolk: Tamesis. [full-text] [Details]
    2012 'Independent Cinema and Globalization: The Case of Paraguay'
    Leen, C (2012) 'Independent Cinema and Globalization: The Case of Paraguay' In: Power, Place and Representation: Contested Sites of Dependence and Independence in Latin America. Oxford: Peter Lang. [full-text] [Details]
    2012 'Familia Fictions: Writing the Family in Tomás Rivera's ...And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him and Sandra Cisneros's Caramelo'
    Leen, C. (2012) 'Familia Fictions: Writing the Family in Tomás Rivera's ...And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him and Sandra Cisneros's Caramelo' In: Critical Insights:Family. United States: Salem Press. [full-text] [Details]
    2011 'Stories from The Hem of Life: Contesting Marginality in Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye'
    Leen, C. (2011) 'Stories from The Hem of Life: Contesting Marginality in Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye' In: Critical Insights: The House on Mango Street. California: Salem Press. [full-text] [Details]
    2010 'How Not to Make a Mexican Musical: Luis Bunuel and the Perils of Mexicanidad'
    Leen, C. (2010) 'How Not to Make a Mexican Musical: Luis Bunuel and the Perils of Mexicanidad' In: Exploring Transculturalism: A Biographical Approach. Germany: VS Verlag. [full-text] [Details]
    2009 ''The Final Frontier: Imagining Latinos in Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Gustavo Vasquez's The Great Mojado Invasion (The 2nd US-Mexico War)''
    Leen, C. (2009) ''The Final Frontier: Imagining Latinos in Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Gustavo Vasquez's The Great Mojado Invasion (The 2nd US-Mexico War)'' In: Imagined Transnationalism: U.S. Latino/a Literature, Culture, and Identity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [full-text] [Details]
    2007 'Trial by Media: Zoot Suit and the Career of Luis Valdez'
    Leen, C. (2007) 'Trial by Media: Zoot Suit and the Career of Luis Valdez' In: Nuevas aportaciones a los estudios teatrales (del siglo de Oro a nuestros días). Spain: Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. [full-text] [Details]
    2007 'Una herida que no cicatriza: The Border as Interethnic Space in Mexican, North American and Chicano Cinema'
    Leen, C. (2007) 'Una herida que no cicatriza: The Border as Interethnic Space in Mexican, North American and Chicano Cinema' In: Borders and Borderlands. Cambridge Scholars Press. [full-text] [Details]
    2002 'Three Border Films: El Mariachi, El Jardin del Eden and Lone Star'
    Leen, C. (2002) 'Three Border Films: El Mariachi, El Jardin del Eden and Lone Star' In: Cultura Popular: Studies in Spanish and Latin American Popular Culture. Bern: Peter Lang. [full-text] [Details]

    Books

      Year Publication
    2014 International Perspectives on Chicana/o Studies: This World is My Place .
    Dr Catherine Leen (2014) International Perspectives on Chicana/o Studies: This World is My Place . : Routledge. [Details]

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2021 'Shadow Men and Real Women: Shifting the Paradigms of the Chicana/o Family in Cherríe Moraga’s Shadow of a Man and Josefina López’s Real Women Have Curves'
    Catherine Leen (2021) 'Shadow Men and Real Women: Shifting the Paradigms of the Chicana/o Family in Cherríe Moraga’s Shadow of a Man and Josefina López’s Real Women Have Curves'. Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies, [DOI] [Details]
    2014 'The Sound of Silence: The corrido as Counterculture in Felipe Cazals' Canoa'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2014) 'The Sound of Silence: The corrido as Counterculture in Felipe Cazals' Canoa'. MODERN LANGUAGES OPEN JOURNAL, 1 :1-16 [full-text] [Details]
    2011 'New Forms of Beauty'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2011) 'New Forms of Beauty'. IRISH ARTS REVIEW, 28 :60-61 [full-text] [Details]
    2009 ''Space Exploration: New Paintings by Sinead Ni Mhaoinaigh''
    Dr Catherine Leen (2009) ''Space Exploration: New Paintings by Sinead Ni Mhaoinaigh''. IRISH ARTS REVIEW, 26 :70-71 [full-text] [Details]
    2009 'Mining the Landscape'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2009) 'Mining the Landscape'. IRISH ARTS REVIEW, 26 :60-61 [full-text] [Details]
    2004 'Borders, batos locos and barrios: Space as Signifier in Chicano Cinema'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2004) 'Borders, batos locos and barrios: Space as Signifier in Chicano Cinema'. NUI MAYNOOTH PAPERS IN SPANISH, PORTUGUESE AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, 11 :1-24 [full-text] [Details]
    2004 'The Caballero Revisited: Postmodernity in The Cisco Kid, The Mask of Zorro, and Shrek II'
    Dr Catherine Leen (2004) 'The Caballero Revisited: Postmodernity in The Cisco Kid, The Mask of Zorro, and Shrek II'. BILINGUAL REVIEW/REVISTA BILINGÜE, 28 :153-165 [full-text] [Details]
    2002 ''Deracination and Acculturation; the Border in Chicano Film Practice''
    Dr Catherine Leen (2002) ''Deracination and Acculturation; the Border in Chicano Film Practice''. FILM AND FILM CULTURE, 1 :87-95 [full-text] [Details]

    Conference Contributions

      Year Publication
    2019 Conference Paper.
    Catherine Leen (2019) Conference Paper. [Oral Presentation], Women in Spanish and Portuguese Studies XX Annual Conference, Maynooth University , 01-NOV-19 - 01-NOV-19 [Details]
    2019 Keynote Address.
    Catherine Leen (2019) Keynote Address. [Keynote Address], Association of Teachers of Spanish Annual Conference, Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin , 12-OCT-19 - 12-OCT-19 [Details]
    2018 Conference Paper.
    Catherine Leen (2018) Conference Paper. [Oral Presentation], 11th International Conference of Chicano Literature and Latino Studies: Toward New Interpretations of “Latinidad” in the 21st Century, Salamanca,Spain , 28-MAY-18 - 30-MAY-18 [Details]
    2018 Traductora, Traidora: Interlingual and Intralingual Translation in Sandra Cisneros’ Caramelo.
    Catherine Leen (2018) Traductora, Traidora: Interlingual and Intralingual Translation in Sandra Cisneros’ Caramelo. [Invited Lecture], I Simposio internacional sobre el espanol en Irlanda: pasado, presente y futuro, TCD , 28-JUN-18 - 28-JUN-18 [Details]
    2018 An event organised by the Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philospohy.
    Catherine Leen (2018) An event organised by the Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philospohy. [Invited Oral Presentation], 'Research for Repeal', MUSSI Seminar Room, Iontas Building, MU , 25-APR-18 - 25-APR-18 [Details]
    2017 'The Aztecs: World's Greatest Civilization?'.
    Catherine Leen (2017) 'The Aztecs: World's Greatest Civilization?'. [Oral Presentation], Talking History, Newstalk 106, Newstalk 106, Dublin 2 , 11-SEP-17 - 11-SEP-17 [Details]
    2014 Keynote Lecture on Mexican Cinema, Migration and Diaspora.
    Catherine Leen (2014) Keynote Lecture on Mexican Cinema, Migration and Diaspora. [Keynote Address], Hispanic Studies Postgraduate Conference UCD, UCD , 08-OCT-14 [Details]
    2014 Conference on Ghosts and Trauma in Mexican Visual Culture.
    Catherine Leen (2014) Conference on Ghosts and Trauma in Mexican Visual Culture. [Invited Lecture], ‘Specular Ghosts: Memory and Trauma in Mexican Visual Culture’, Senate House, University of London , 12-SEP-14 [Details]
    2014 An invited lecture as part of the Irish Film Institute's series of screenings of Latin American Cinema.
    Catherine Leen (2014) An invited lecture as part of the Irish Film Institute's series of screenings of Latin American Cinema. [Invited Lecture], South Facing, Irish Film Institute , 10-NOV-14 [Details]
    2018 An invited lecture as part of the celebrations of International Womens' Day at Trinity College Dublin.
    Catherine Leen (2018) An invited lecture as part of the celebrations of International Womens' Day at Trinity College Dublin. [Invited Lecture], Re-framing the Latina Body in Contemporary Latina Visual Culture, Trinity College Dublin , 05-MAR-18 - 05-MAR-18 [Details]

    [Public presentations], [Details]
    2017 Invited Speaker TCD Hispanic Studies.
    Catherine Leen (2017) Invited Speaker TCD Hispanic Studies. [Invited Lecture], Animating The Alien Nation: Mexican Filmmakers Countering Racist Stereotypes in Animated Films, Trinity College Dublin , 22-MAR-17 [Details]
    2017 Society for Latin American Studies.
    Catherine Leen (2017) Society for Latin American Studies. [Oral Presentation], Guillermo Del Toro's The Book of Life and the Return Home, Glasgow , 06-APR-17 [Details]
    2017 Invited Speaker Hispanic Studies UCD.
    Catherine Leen (2017) Invited Speaker Hispanic Studies UCD. [Invited Lecture], Mujeres on Film: From Riot Grrls to Ovarian Psycos, Hispanic Studies UCD , 02-NOV-17 - 02-NOV-17 [Details]
    2016 This international conference on U.S. and Latin American Cinema began with a screening of the documentary 'Feliciano Centurión: A Natural Embrace,' introduced by producer Fabián Bozzolo. It featured keynotes from Professor Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, Dr Deborah Shaw, and Dr Niamh Thornton. It was accompanied by an exhibition of Feliciano' Centurión's art in the MU Library.
    Catherine Leen (2016) This international conference on U.S. and Latin American Cinema began with a screening of the documentary 'Feliciano Centurión: A Natural Embrace,' introduced by producer Fabián Bozzolo. It featured keynotes from Professor Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez, Dr Deborah Shaw, and Dr Niamh Thornton. It was accompanied by an exhibition of Feliciano' Centurión's art in the MU Library. [Conferences hosted], Cine Americano: U.S. and Latin American Cinema, Maynooth University , 08-NOV-16 - 09-NOV-16 [Details]

    [Visiting and guest lecturers hosted], , , [Details]
    2012 AHGBI Conference.
    (2012) AHGBI Conference. [Oral Presentation], Lourdes Portillo's Recent Border Films, University of Stirling, Scotland [Details]
    2012
    José Woldenberg (2012) [Visiting and guest lecturers hosted], La transición democrática en México, , Arts, Spanish [Details]
    2011 Irish Association for American Studies.
    (2011) Irish Association for American Studies. [Oral Presentation], The Aztec Empire Strikes Back: Alex Rivera's Sleepdealer, Queen's University Belfast [Details]
    2011 Lecture on the work of Chicana filmmaker Lourdes Portillo.
    Catherine Leen (2011) Lecture on the work of Chicana filmmaker Lourdes Portillo. [Invited Lecture], Lourdes Portillo as Transnational Filmmaker, University of Ulster, Coleraine [Details]
    2011 Transitions and Continuities in Contemporary Xicana/o Culture.
    (2011) Transitions and Continuities in Contemporary Xicana/o Culture. [Oral Presentation], Rockin' the Barrio: Lalo Guerrero the Original Chicano, University College Cork [Details]
    2011
    Dan Guerrero (2011) [Visiting and guest lecturers hosted], Irish Premiere of Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano, , Arts, Spanish [Details]
    2011 Muchos Méxicos: Reflections of Mexico in History, Literature, Anthropology and Visual Culture.
    (2011) Muchos Méxicos: Reflections of Mexico in History, Literature, Anthropology and Visual Culture. [Oral Presentation], The Not-So Phantom Menace: Countering Stereotypes of Mexican Immigrants as Aliens in Alex Rivera's S, NUI Maynooth [Details]
    2010 IASIL International Conference.
    (2010) IASIL International Conference. [Oral Presentation], Overcoming the Traditional of Silence; Rita Ann Higgins and Chicana Poetry, NUI Maynooth [Details]
    2010
    Arturo Ripstein and Paz Alicia Garciadiego (2010) [Visiting and guest lecturers hosted], Interview with Mexican Filmmakers Arturo Ripstein and Paz Alicia Garciadiego, , Arts, Spanish [Details]
    2010 Trans/Inter/Intra: Ways of Exploring the Americas.
    Catherine Leen (2010) Trans/Inter/Intra: Ways of Exploring the Americas. [Invited Lecture], Eat, Drink, Hombre Mujer: Translating Minority Cinema, University of Bielefeld, Germany [Details]
    2010 ALAI Conference.
    (2010) ALAI Conference. [Oral Presentation], The Work of Art in an Age of Co-Productions: The Case of Paraguayan Cinema, NUI Galway [Details]
    2010 7 Congreso Internacional de Literatura Chicana.
    (2010) 7 Congreso Internacional de Literatura Chicana. [Oral Presentation], The Awful grandmother and the Spiderwoman: Transformative Storytelling in Manuel Puig's El beso de l, Universidad de Leon, Spain [Details]
    2009 Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland.
    (2009) Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland. [Oral Presentation], Does Paraguayan Cinema Exist?, Queens University Belfast [Details]
    2008 Art, Media & Contested Space.
    (2008) Art, Media & Contested Space. [Oral Presentation], Chilean Film and Calle Santa Fe, Queens University Belfast [Details]
    2008
    Juan Pablo Young, Pablo Zubizerreta, Eduardo Kimel (2008) [Visiting and guest lecturers hosted], 4 de julio: La masacre de San Patricio, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Arts, Spanish [Details]
    2007 Invited Speaker.
    (2007) Invited Speaker. [Oral Presentation], Real Women Have Curves, Universidad de Cordoba, Argentina [Details]
    2007 Reflections on Contemporary Mexican Cinema.
    (2007) Reflections on Contemporary Mexican Cinema. [Oral Presentation], Music, Movies and Mexico, UCC [Details]
    2006 Society of Latin American Studies.
    (2006) Society of Latin American Studies. [Oral Presentation], Re-imagining the City in Contemporary Argentine Cinema, University of Nottingham [Details]
    2006 V International Conference on Chicano Literature.
    (2006) V International Conference on Chicano Literature. [Oral Presentation], Imagining Latinos in 21st-Century Cinema, Alcala, Spain [Details]
    2005 Invited Speaker UCC Hispanic Studies.
    Catherine Leen (2005) Invited Speaker UCC Hispanic Studies. [Invited Lecture], What Have I Done to deserve This? Women in the Films of Pedro Almodovar, University College Cork [Details]
    2005 New latin American cineams: Contemporary Cinema and Filmmaking.
    (2005) New latin American cineams: Contemporary Cinema and Filmmaking. [Oral Presentation], History Lessons: Luis Puenzo's La historia oficial and Contemporary Argentine Cinema, University of Leeds [Details]
    2004 Aperturas Conference.
    (2004) Aperturas Conference. [Oral Presentation], The unlikely Origins of a Chicano Icon: O. Henry's the Caballero's Way, DIT [Details]
    2002 3 International Conference on Chicano Literature.
    (2002) 3 International Conference on Chicano Literature. [Public presentations], The Ties That Bind: Three Variations on the Theme of the Family in Chicano Film, Universidad de Malaga, Spain [Details]

    Other Journals

      Year Publication
    2018 ''El Tiempo Nublado (Cloudy Times): The Ethics of Documentarian Activism''
    Catherine Leen (2018) ''El Tiempo Nublado (Cloudy Times): The Ethics of Documentarian Activism'' Filmatique, . [Details]
    2006 ''Sinéad Ní Mhaoinaigh: Eatramh''
    Dr Catherine Leen (2006) ''Sinéad Ní Mhaoinaigh: Eatramh'' Catalogue Essay: Kevin Kavanagh Gallery Dublin, :2-6. [Details]
    2006 ''Memory and Desire: New Works by Stephen Lawlor''
    Dr Catherine Leen (2006) ''Memory and Desire: New Works by Stephen Lawlor'' Catalogue Essay: Graphic Studio Gallery Dublin, :3-8. [Details]
    2002 ''Paul Gregg: Magnesium''
    Dr Catherine Leen (2002) ''Paul Gregg: Magnesium'' Catalogue Essay: Carlow County Council, :2-9. [Details]

    Conference Publications

      Year Publication
    1999 Crossing Boundaries: Spanish Across Cultures
    Nancy Serrano and Barrie Wharton, eds. (1999) Crossing Boundaries: Spanish Across Cultures University of Limerick, , 12-JUL-99 - 14-JUL-99 [Details]

    Book Review

      Year Publication
    2017 Mexican Screen Fiction: Between Cinema and Television, Paul Julian Smith.
    Catherine Leen (2017) Mexican Screen Fiction: Between Cinema and Television, Paul Julian Smith. Book Review [Details]
    2015 David William Foster, Latin American Documentary Filmmaking: Major Works.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2015) David William Foster, Latin American Documentary Filmmaking: Major Works. Book Review [Details]
    2014 VERÓNICA CORTÍNEZ Y MANFRED ENGELBERT,La tristeza de los tigres y los misterios de Raúl Ruiz.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2014) VERÓNICA CORTÍNEZ Y MANFRED ENGELBERT,La tristeza de los tigres y los misterios de Raúl Ruiz. Book Review [Details]
    2013 Trans/Acting: Latin American and Latino Perfoming Arts.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2013) Trans/Acting: Latin American and Latino Perfoming Arts. Book Review [Details]
    2008 'Juan Pablo Young and Pablo Zubizarreta's Documentary Film 4 de Julio: La masacre de San Patricio'.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2008) 'Juan Pablo Young and Pablo Zubizarreta's Documentary Film 4 de Julio: La masacre de San Patricio'. Book Review [Details]

    Film or Broadcast

      Year Publication
    2016 Feliciano Centurión: Abrazo íntimo al natural.
    Mon Ross and Catherine Leen (2016) Feliciano Centurión: Abrazo íntimo al natural. Film or Broadcast [Details]

    Conference Hosted

      Year Publication
    2012 Ventanas a Argentina: Argentine Studies Symposium.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2012) Ventanas a Argentina: Argentine Studies Symposium. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2011 Muchos Mexicos: Contemporary Perspectives on Mexico.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2011) Muchos Mexicos: Contemporary Perspectives on Mexico. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2011 Transitions and Continuities in Contemporary Chicana/o culture.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2011) Transitions and Continuities in Contemporary Chicana/o culture. Conference Hosted [Details]
    2009 Chicana/o Studies Colloquium.
    Dr Catherine Leen (2009) Chicana/o Studies Colloquium. Conference Hosted [Details]