Randolph-Macon College Spanish Professor Patricia Reagan is the recipient of a fellowship award from the Mednick Fellowship Committee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC). Founded in 1952, the VFIC is a non-profit fundraising partnership supporting the programs and students of 15 leading independent colleges in the Commonwealth.

The award will fund research for Reagan’s latest book, Destination Nemesis: The United States as Antagonist in Films of Latino Immigration (2001-2016). Reagan’s book will analyze recent films about unauthorized Latino immigration and the portrayal of the United States in these films.

“I am incredibly humbled to have been chosen for this grant and I am eternally grateful to the VFIC and the Mednick Fellowship Fund for supporting the scholarship of faculty at small liberal arts colleges in Virginia,” says Reagan.

Brand-new Avenue
“This is a brand-new avenue of research for me. My interest in this topic surfaced as a result of the Spanish course I teach, Service Learning in Spanish,” explains Reagan. In the classroom, Reagan’s course focuses on issues of immigration that are analyzed in academic and news articles, literature, and film as a platform for discussion. Outside of the classroom, these issues of immigration come alive as students work with local Latino Immigrants for 30-40 hours during the semester.
Reagan’s book is organized around the major issues of immigration including labor, the border, special circumstances of immigrant children, assimilation and crime.

Specifically, with the Mednick research funds Reagan plans to attend CineFestival at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas in February 2017. CineFestival is the original and longest-running Latino film festival in the nation. Reagan will participate in and lead discussions and interview directors and actors. She hopes the experience will make her book as contemporary and relevant as possible.

Patricia Reagan
Reagan, who joined the faculty in 2008, earned her B.A. from Hood College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Her research focuses in 20th Century Latin American Literature and Culture, and Latino Immigration. She is the author of Deconstructing Paradise: Inverted Religious Symbolism in Contemporary Latin American Literature (Lexington Books, Forthcoming, July, 2016) and The Postmodern Storyteller: Donoso, García Márquez and Vargas Llosa (Lexington Books, 2012).

She has also published articles on Julio Cortázar’s “El perseguidor,” Juan José Millás’ Dos mujeres en Praga and Jorge Luis Borges’ “Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote.” Reagan has also written extensively about Bachata music from the Dominican Republic, including an article in Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism, and she has contributed to volumes on Latin Folklore.

Reagan is passionate about service-learning experiences and courses, teaching students to analyze literature, translation and interpretation, and all things Spanish. In fall 2016, Reagan will teach a new RMCS course, Films of Latino Immigration. In addition, she is the RMC nominee to attend the 2016 DuPont summer seminar, “Immigration and Citizenship in the United States,” which takes place in June at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.