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Research

Below you'll find some of my more recent research. For an up-to-date cv, please email me: cowlinge@macewan.ca

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Chocolate: How a New World Commodity Conquered Spanish Literature UP Toronto, 2021
 

In terms of its popularity, as well as its production, chocolate was among the first foods to travel from the New World to Spain. Chocolate: How a New World Commodity Conquered Spanish Literature considers chocolate as an object of collective memory used to bridge the transatlantic gap through Spanish literary works of the early modern period, tracing the mention of chocolate from indigenous legends and early chronicles of the conquistadors to the theatre and literature of Spain.

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The book considers a variety of perspectives and material cultures, such as the pre-Colombian conception of chocolate, the commercial enterprise surrounding chocolate, and the darker side of chocolate’s connections to witchcraft and sex. Encapsulating both historical and literary interests, Chocolate will appeal to anyone interested in the global history of chocolate.

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To read more, check out this blogpost on the UTP Authors' blog.

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Available for purchase/desk copies on the UTP website.

Reviews of Chocolate:

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"Chocolate is an intellectual treat: an adventurous journey through uncharted crossroads of political, economic, literary, and culinary histories, spanning four centuries of transatlantic exchanges, from pre-Colombian times and the early age of exploration, conquest, and colonization of the new world to the twilight of the Spanish empire."

~David Castillo, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, University at Buffalo
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"From conquest chronicles and missionary accounts to the raging religious and medical debates of chocolate’s value, to its many and varied appearances in early modern plays and other primary sources, Cowling’s fascinating study provides ample evidence of chocolate as status symbol and the fervour that surrounded it throughout the early modern era."

~Carolyn Nadeau, Byron S. Tucci Professor of Spanish, Illinois Wesleyan University
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"Is it possible to capture delight and devastation, conquest and commerce, culture and cuisine, all in the history of one commodity? It is if the product in question is chocolate, and if your author is Erin Alice Cowling. This book is a must-read for scholars of early modern literature, colonialism, and the trans-Atlantic world; but also for anyone who loves chocolate – which is to say, everyone."

~William Egginton, Decker Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute, Johns Hopkins University

Social Justice in Spanish Golden Age Theatre

Edited by Erin Alice Cowling, Tania de Miguel Magro, Mina Garcia Jordán, and Glenda Y. Nieto-Cuebas

© 2021

This collection of original new essays focuses on the many ways in which early modern Spanish plays engaged their audiences in a dialogue about abuse, injustice, and inequality. Far from the traditional monolithic view of theatrical works as tools for expanding ideology, these essays each recognize the power of theatre in reflecting on issues related to social justice. The first section of the book focuses on textual analysis, taking into account legal, feminist, and collective bargaining theory. The second section explores issues surrounding theatricality, performativity, and intellectual property laws through an analysis of contemporary adaptations. The final section reflects on social justice from the practitioners’ point of view, including actors and directors.

Social Justice in Spanish Golden Age Theatre reveals how adaptations of classical theatre portray social justice and how throughout history the writing and staging of comedias has been at the service of a wide range of political agendas.

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Available for purchase/exam copy on the U Toronto Press website

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“‘Hija del desengaño’: Diana’s Life Prior to Agustín Moreto’s El desdén con el desdén”. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 99.3, 2022, pp. 225-38, https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2022.16.

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“Confinement, Covid, and the Comedia in Mexico City.” Romance Quarterly, 69.2 2022, pp. 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/08831157.2021.2017241

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"Representing the Unrepresentable: A One-Man Retelling of Cervantes’s Entremeses", eHumanista Cervantes, 8, 2020, 132-44. https://www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu/cervantes/volumes/8

**Winner of the 2022 Matthew Stroud Comedia Article Prize**

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"Theatre, Adaptations, and Adapting to Quarantine." Sixteenth Century Journal, 51.S1, 2020. Available here as a blogpost. 

Nieto-Cuebas, Glenda Y. and Erin Alice Cowling. “Teatro Inverso's Rosaura: Recasting La vida es sueño through Storytelling.” Comedia Performance, 17.1, 2020, pp. 70-89.

Cowling, Erin Alice, Paige Wheeler and Julia Marquez-Uppman. “Métodos cuantitativos, análisis cualitativo: El uso de la tecnología moderna en la enseñanza de la literatura áurea.” Hispania, 101.4, 2018, pp. 519-33.

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