Erika M Sutherland
Education
- AB, Bryn Mawr College
- MA, University of Pennsylvania
- Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
Teaching Interests
I am a Hispanist, committed to studying and teaching the languages, literatures, and cultures of the Hispanic world. I love teaching the introductory levels of Spanish, but also advanced courses focusing on contemporary literature and cultures.
My special interest in medical humanities is reflected in my Books and the Body courses (taught in both Spanish and English translation) as well as community-engaged classes in translation and interpreting and the interdisciplinary course incorporating international partnerships, Public Health in Practice: Panama.
My connection with the local Latino and Hispanic immigrant communities create open doors for my community-engaged classes as well as my First Year Seminar, Cuisine as Culture: Exploring Allentown’s Hispanic Immigrant Communities.
Research Interests
My main scholarly interests center on the intersections of literature and medicine, concentrating primarily on the narrative representation of the female body and incorporating themes of gender-based violence, disease, hunger, and pleasure. My publications include a recent study of the medicinal leech industry in 19th century Madrid, a review of the evolution of medical ethics, and two chapters on the use of medical materials in the MLA Approaches to Teaching series.
Women’s writing is a secondary area of interest; I am the co-author of the two-volume critical anthology of Spanish women writers, (Con)Textos femeninos (Peter Lang, 2020). I am currently working on women’s narratives around the gynecological exam, comparing texts by women authors, doctors’ clinical notes, and the testimonials of prostitutes and prisoners.
My third area of interest and expertise is literature written by Spain’s Roma community, a community that had been marginalized for centuries but that has created extraordinary works of poetry, prose, and non-fiction. This work has led me to some close collaborations with gitano writers, who join my classes from Spain to share their perspectives and writing with students as they read their texts.
- Communication in Spanish I
- FYS: Cuisine as Culture: Exploring Allentown's Hispanic Immigrant Communities
- Public Health in Panamá
- Public Health in Practice: Panamá
- Spanish Independent Study/Research: Language accessibility
- Paul C. Empie ’29 Award for excellence in inspirational teaching, 2008
- Bridge Builder award, multiple years
Recent Publications
- “Medicine for Everyone: Medical Knowledge and Debate in the Novels of Galdós.” MLA Approaches to Teaching the Works of Benito Pérez Galdós. Ed. Liana Ewald, David George and Wan Tang. New York: MLA, 2026. ISBN: 9781603297257.
- “Contra el olvido, palabras y platos: Los libros de cocina de Emilia Pardo Bazán e Isabel de Palencia.” Emilia Pardo Bazán en su Centenario. Perspectivas comparatistas y artísticas. Ed. Pilar Couto-Cantero and Jesús Ángel Sánchez-García. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2025. ISBN: 9783631913475
- “El temblor de Ido del Sagrario: Galdós y la higiene del obrero.” Coda a un centenario. Galdós, miradas y perspectivas. Ed. Victoria Galván González. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: Casa-Museo Pérez Galdós, Cabildo de Gran Canaria, 2023. 782-805. ISBN: 978-84-1353-120-5
- “Hambre lejana, siempre presente: Recuerdos de España desde las Américas.” “Yo no invento nada.” Testimonio y ficción del exilio republicano de 1939 en el cine, el teatro y la literatura. Ed. José-Ramón López García, Verónica Azcue y Alba Saura Clares. Sevilla: Renacimiento, 2022. 103-122.
- “Una industria desheredada: Las sanguijuelas en la España decimonónica.” Literatura y Medicina. Teoría y práxis (1800-1930). Vol. II. Ed. Jorge Avilés-Diz y José Goñi Pérez Madrid: Ediciones de la Torre, 2021. 221-253.
- “From la santidad de la escoba to la trinidad higiénica: Towards a more inclusive vision of Spain’s public health.” A Laboratory of Her Own. Women and Science in Spanish Culture. Ed. Victoria Ketz, Dawn Smith-Sherwood y Debra Faszer-McMahon. Vanderbilt UP, 2021. 89-118.
- (Con)textos femeninos: Una antología de escritoras españolas, two volumes co-edited with Elizabeth Smith Rousselle. New York: Peter Lang, 2020.
Selected Recent Presentations:
- "Molding the Medical Professional: Student Practitioners and Galdós." January 2025, (In)Visible Pains: Medicine and Disease in Galdós's Works, MLA Convention, New Orleans, LA.
“Cuando tu mundo se derrumba… encontrarás más mundo: El Primer exilio de Ernestina de Champourcín en el aula.” July 2024, IV Congreso Internacional Creador/AS en la Educación Literaria e Intercultural, Alicante, Spain. Developing a pedagogy for intercultural communication using the poetry of a marginal writer. - “Surviving death: Family responses to childhoods cut short,” an analysis of the medical and social responses to child mortality in the XIX century, at the MLA Annual Convention, Philadelphia, January 2024.
- "Engaging Galdós in Twenty-First Century Classrooms." January 2023, MLA Conference, San Francisco, CA. Discussing the use of popular medicine as an engaging pedagogy.
- “The view from the other end of the speculum: Spanish women on public health.” MLA Conference, San Francisco, January 2023.
- “Visitas al Cuarto Estado... dentro y en las afueras de Madrid.” Congreso Internacional Vigencia de Galdós, Soria, Spain, July 2022.
“El temblor de Ido del Sagrario: Galdós y la higiene del obrero.” XII Congreso Internacional Galdosiano, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, June 2022. - “Contra el olvido, palabras y platos: Los libros de cocina de Emilia Pardo Bazán e Isabel de Palencia.” Emilia Pardo Bazán en su centenario: Literatura y vida en los siglos XIX, XX Y XXI, A Coruña, Spain, September 2021.
Contact: erikasutherland@muhlenberg.edu