Fernando’s work reveals the intricate interactions between social dynamics, cultural expressions, and feminist initiatives.

Fernando Valcheff-Garcia is a PhD candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures: Spanish, specializing in Latin American literature and culture. His dissertation explores how contemporary women writers embrace ambiguity and speculation as narrative forms that, rather than merely reflecting societal contexts, act as a creative force of political intervention. By analyzing their texts, Fernando’s work reveals the intricate interactions between social dynamics, cultural expressions, and feminist initiatives, particularly those that have contributed to the emergence of the so-called “New Latin American Boom” of women writers—a complex and powerful movement that continues to challenge and transform traditional patriarchal narratives in the region.

Fernando’s CEW+ Fellowship supports travel to bolster and expand his research. His project, entitled “Women’s Literature in the Time of Culture Wars: Current Publishing Strategies, Trends, and Outlets in Argentina,” examines the impact of neoconservative policies on publishing practices in Argentina, focusing on the implications of ideological persecution of writers in a women-led literary landscape. In light of the recent controversy surrounding Argentina’s vice president Victoria Villarruel’s attempt to ban literary texts from high schools—which the country’s largest publishing house denounced as a censorship campaign by a woman against women—Fernando will travel to Buenos Aires to interview female artists, scholars, and journalists. The CEW+ Fellowship will also enable him to attend independent publishing fairs and learn from editors and publishers about current challenges in the industry. This project will address urgent free speech issues affecting women and provide valuable insights for Fernando’s dissertation on Latin American literature by female authors.

In addition to his CEW+ Fellowship, Fernando has also earned a Rackham Humanities Research Fellowship, two Rackham International Research Awards, and two Tinker Foundation/LACS Field Research Grants.

CEW+ recognizes Fernando’s urgent contributions to the field of Latin American women’s literature and names him a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.