Research Professor, Institute of Communications Research
Professor, Latina/Latino Studies Program
Professor, Unit for Interpretive Criticism & Interpretive Theory
Professor, Gender and Women's Studies Program Professor Valdivia's research combines the areas of gender and feminist studies with ethnic studies. She brings these together in the examination of contemporary mainstream popular culture in an approach that explores the tension between agency and structure. She has conducted field research in Nicaragua, Peru, and Chile. Current research projects include hybridity theory as it applies to Latina/o Studies, ambiguity as a strategy of ethnic representation, and differentiation within Latinidad. She is working on a book length manuscript entitled "The Gender of Latinidad" and several other projects.
Professor Valdivia is the author of A Latina in the Land of Hollywood [Arizona, 2000]and the editor of The Media Studies Companion [Blackwell, 2003];Feminism, Multiculturalism, and the Media: Global Diversities [Sage: 1995]; the communication and culture section of the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women [2000] and co-editor of Geographies of Latinidad [Duke, 2006]. She has published essays in the Communication Review, Global Media Journal, Journal of Communication, the Journal of International Communication, the Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies, the International Journal of Inclusive Education, Women and Language, Chasqui, and in many edited anthologies.
Professor Valdivia is an affiliate faculty member with Women and Gender in a Global Perspective and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Ph.D., Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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