Faculty Profile for Dr. Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins

profile photo for Dr. Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins
Dr. Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins
Associate Professor — Dept of World Languages & Literatures
CENT 214
phone: (512) 245-2360

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins received her B.A. in Spanish and Art History and M.A. in Spanish from The University of Alabama. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance Studies from the University of Miami.

Teaching Interests

20th and 21st Century Hispanic Caribbean Narrative, Theatre, and Performance
21st Century Latin American Literature
Latinx Literature

Research Interests

Dr. Perkins’s research interests include 20th and 21st century Latin American narrative, theatre, and performance. Her research methodology engages queer theory, performance studies, theories of space, and phenomenology. Her current research project investigates how Latin American performers combine virtual technologies, the body, and the space of international theatre and performance festivals to create new ways of expressing, challenging, and reshaping the connections between gender and nationality throughout Latin America. She is the author of Representing Queer and Transgender Identity: Fluid Bodies in the Hispanic Caribbean and Beyond, published with Bucknell University Press in 2017. This monograph analyzes how transgender and queer people use the representational strategies available in narrative, theatre, graphic novels, and performance in order to redefine national belonging. She has published articles on issues of queer identity, performance, and Latin American narrative in the journals Chasqui, Romance Studies, Decimonónica, and Letras Femeninas.

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Perkins, A. G. (2021). Queering Autobiography: Polyphony and Multiple Identifications in Milk of Amnesia/Leche de amnesia. Romance Notes, 61(2), 341–352.
  • Perkins, A. G. (2021). Mapping the Hyperlocal Body: Queer Interventions in the Performances of Felipe Rivas San Martín. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 17, 356–372. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2021.1982498
  • Perkins, A. G. (2019). Transtemporality in Twenty-First Century Queer Representation. Wasafiri.
  • Perkins, A. G. (2017). We are family: Translocations of Queer Kinship in Mayra Santos Febres’s Sirena Selena vestida de pena. Chasqui, 46(1), 70–83.
  • Perkins, A. G. (2017). Representing Queer and Transgender Identity: Fluid Bodies in the Hispanic Caribbean and Beyond. Bucknell University Press.

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: College Achievement Award - Teaching, College of Liberal Arts. May 2023
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award, College of Liberal Arts at Texas State University. May 2022
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award, Texas State University College of Liberal Arts. August 10, 2021
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Alumni Association Teaching Award of Honor, Alumni Association of Texas State University. May 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Southern Utah University Influencer Award, Southern Utah University. 2016

Selected Grants

  • Perkins, Alexandra Gonzenbach (Co-Principal), Portaro, Iliana (Co-Principal). Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, National Endowment for the Humanities and American Library Association, Federal, $3000. (Submitted: 2015, Funded: 2015). Grant.
  • Perkins, Alexandra Gonzenbach (Principal). Transforming Technologies in Times of Crisis: Performance and Digital Media Across the Caribbean, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University, $2000. (Submitted: November 2023, Funded: April 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024). Grant.
  • Perkins, Alexandra Gonzenbach. LASA Non-Tenure Track Faculty Grant, Latin American Studies Association, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $1000. (Submitted: 2017, Funded: 2017). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Chair
Sigma Delta Pi National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Epsilon Beta Chapter
August 15, 2022-Present
Member
GIA/GTA Selection Committee
2024-Present
Member
Outstanding Graduate Student Selection Committee
February 2024-Present
Undergraduate Advisor
Undergraduate Advisor for Spanish
August 2023-Present
Co-Chair
Latin American Studies Association Sexualities Section
June 1, 2023-Present