The power that beholds the word of all women | Five female undergraduates selected to present at national conference

By Lenny K. Mata Cuevas | Published by April 13, 2021

For Rosa, Dolores, María, Daniela and Valerie, all started as a requirement course but turned into a gratifying experience of extracurricular work that marks a big step not only in their lives as students at Kean but also as women.

This month, the five females will present at the National Council on Undergraduate Research, which due to Covid restrictions will be hosted online. This is the first time Kean has had such a large group presenting at the prestigious conference. While it’s a professional achievement, personally it has taken them to an even greater one: Hispanic women re-discovering “the power that their words behold,” as one of them said in Spanish.

In a two hour Zoom session, the women explained that they found power, purpose and self-knowledge while researching Latin American Literature and History with World Languages Spanish Coordinator, Dr. Gregory Shepherd, for their upcoming presentation at the conference.

Rosa Huanchi, a Linguistics Major seeking a K-12 teacher certification, said the nature of her research led her to question what she had never considered in the past. Based on the literature of Isabelle Allende and Rosario Ferré, Huanchi explored the role of Hispanic women in a patriarchal society.

“When I started to study linguistics, there were some aspects which I was not used to questioning such as how were women treated, previously, how women have been living under a system of oppression by patriarchal society?” Huanchi said, between pauses, in Spanish.

The Peruvian mother and wife, who thinks of herself as a “dreamer,” said her research and readings in Dr. Shepherd classes affirmed the idea that women deserve a high place in society that include rights and opportunities.

“Now I say, no! Women have a voice.” Huanchi said in Spanish. “I think and look at things differently now. When I am going to act or do something, when I am going to say things and at any point in my life, I analyze things.”

Dolores Quezada and María Kukla, both pursuing degrees in Spanish studies and elementary education, were influenced and inspired while doing their own research. Quezada focused her work on the life of famous revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, while Kukla’s work contrasted the way women evolved throughout life in two of Luisa Valenzuela’s tales.

Quezada, a perseverant Ecuadorian who was only 19 when she moved to the United States, wanted to learn in detail how and why Ernesto Guevara became “El Ché”. Basically, she wanted to understand and not judge the person just by what it is believed in pop culture.

“I think no one is born as a revolutionary or a warrior,” Quezada said in Spanish. “You have to question and dig deeper in search of that transformation. I’d like to highlight the starting point where he changed his ideals and why?”

Kukla agrees with the importance of Quezada’s research and confesses that she would have been very interested herself, but she felt she could not be objective. She believes that her opinion about Che Guevara could have compromised the work.

“I am from Argentina; I would have been very interested in that topic. However, I found it difficult to make a fair statement about him and whether he was good or not just because he was from Argentina, too. I preferred to stay aside of that one and just appreciate Dolores’ fantastic work,” Kukla said in Spanish.

Instead, Kukla decided to focus on literature, women’s freedoms, and their emotional evolution. She explained that she picked these tales as a “wake-up call” to “open your mind” and to stop judging women on how they chose to live their lives. She also had personal reasons, including her status as an Argentinian student in the United States.

“I wanted to honor someone from my country.” Kukla said. “I left my country when I was 20 years old, and I didn’t get to go to college there, so I did not know anything about my country, even less about this lady.”

Then, thanks to her research she learned who she was and what her tales were about.

“She was brave enough, to tell truth and expose something that is a topic that we cannot talk about in my country. It is scary to talk about it, but she did it. So, I’m like, I’m going to give her credit for that.” Kukla said.

Finally, Colombian Daniela Riascos and Guatemalan Valerie Sanabria or the “babies of the group” as Kukla playfully called them, also presented projects based not only on literature but history as well.

Riascos, who seeks a degree in education and certification for grades K-12, decided to work with Isabel Allende’s novel Eva Luna. Her work studies and analyzes a character in literature known as “subaltern subject”, according to Riascos.

“The subaltern subject can be any person, male or female, who can physically speak, but their voice and what they mean to say is never heard by the people in power” explained Riascos in Spanish.

Riascos also explained that this research has taught her about a concept which is not common hearing people talking about, “the share of power in society” as a tool to succeed in the quest of equality.

“There is power in our words and we must learn how to use that power. My research appeals for that, for using that power without oppressing others.” Said Riascos in Spanish. In an ideal world, power should be a combination between both, man and woman with a mid-point where both genders satisfy their necessities.”

Valerie Sanabria, a double major in Communication/Journalism and Spanish and is also Editor in Chief of The Tower. Sanabria established a series of similarities among four different Latin American authors as classic as José Martí and as modern as Puerto Rican Rap duo Calle 13. Her work defends the idea of how the rest of the American continent has been oppressed and mistreated throughout history.

“José Martí, Ruben Dario, Neruda and Calle 13 are all from different periods in literature and culture, still they keep writing about how all of the other countries think that Latin American it’s their playground,” Sanabria said switching from English to Spanish.

However, Sanabria says that the intention of this research is to emphasize on the strength of Latin American people, regardless of all the horrible things they’ve gone through.

“That’s what my research is really about; it explains chronologically how those four authors wrote about how imperialism has affected Latin America but also it shows about the beauty of the land and the culture of its people.” Sanabria said in Spanglish.

Each one of the women chose contemporary but still, taboo topics in their Latino community as subjects of their research. They all recognized that this subject could be taken as controversial and induced difficult conversations, but they are ready to defend their points and theses.

“Usually, I don’t do a lot of things related to feminism because I am scared of being judged for the way I think, and the way I feel. I never thought I was going to be presenting these subjects at a national conference, but what can I do? I’m here already.” Kukla said, laughing.

While Riascos affirms she is ready for debate.

“I’m eager to find somebody who thinks different from me. That is what motivates me the most to be able to defend my thoughts and points of view.” Said Riascos in Spanish.

Dr. Shepherd, who serves as the mentor for the project, encouraged them to submit an abstract and compete for a chance to participate at the National Council of Undergraduate Research. He shared his opinion on how proud and content he is by seeing how these ladies have been supporting each other while on this journey.

“These particular five women have formed a tight group in the process of seeking national attention for their research; they have worked collaboratively and supported each other in many ways beyond the instruction they received from me.

He is also excited about the commitment and great work, but mostly of the results that the research has left in the lives of these women.

“Professors live for this type of engagement where students embrace learning to the degree that their critical skills flourish naturally.” Said Dr. Shepherd proudly.

The five of them are receiving and embracing this opportunity as a chance to learn more about Latin American culture and sharing the same passion and excitement for what the National Council for Undergraduates Research might bring. More importantly, they have reaffirmed their beliefs in “The power that beholds the word of all women”, as Huanchi said in Spanish, as they all agreed.

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