Dr Jesse Barker

Biography

I hold an MA in Hispanic studies from Tulane University and a doctoral degree from the University of British Columbia. I worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Albany SUNY 2011-2012, before joining the Hispanic Studies department in January 2013.

Internal Memberships

• Undergraduate Programme Coordinator Spanish and Latin American Studies

Research Overview

20th-21st century Spanish literature, film and culture. Environmental humanities, ecomedia. 

Current Research

My current research project is Frames of Nature: Ecology and Politics in Spanish Visual Media (1928–2024). The project explores how historical and contemporary Spanish media engage with ecological themes, within a political and cultural landscape where the natural environment is often framed as a static backdrop for conflicts over wealth distribution, historical memory, and national identity.

Past Research

This project builds on my earlier work on individualism and intersubjectivity. My 2017 monograph, Crossroads Visions, analysed 21st-century Spanish novels and films that identify individualism as a root cause of social, economic, and psychological crises. Over the past few years, I have expanded this inquiry through articles and video essays on spirituality and ecology, incorporating texts from Europe, North America, and Asia.

Teaching Responsibilities

• Spanish Language 7
• Spain: Texts and Contexts
• Youth in the Fiction and Films of the Spanish Dictatorship
• Imagined Cities: Spanish Urban Culture in Fiction and Film
  
• Playful Fictions: Cervantes, Borges, Cortázar
  
• Iberian Crossroads: Contemporary Spanish Film