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LLP Faculty Spotlight: 5 Questions

Please tell us about yourself.  My name is Dr. Francesco Masala-Martínez and I am an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Tennessee State University. I joined the LLP family in August 2021. I was born in Italy and I was raised in Ecuador and Italy since my parents come from those two countries. Growing up, my mother would speak Spanish to me and my two older brothers while my father (who never learned Spanish) would only speak to us in Italian. I moved to the United States to pursue a Master's in Spanish and I subsequently continued with a Doctorate in Hispanic Studies. I received both degrees from the University of Kentucky.

What are your research interests? 

Graduate School helped me discover my passions and thanks to the guidance of my advisors I started to focus squarely on topics such as Migration Studies, Race and Ethnicity, and Applied Linguistics (Critical Discourse Analysis, in particular).

What inspired you to pursue these topics? 

Moving to the state of Kentucky in my twenties was quite an experience. I was a non-English speaker, immigrant of color, Latinx living in a predominantly white state. Unfortunately, I experienced discrimination and racism and instead of staying quiet, I decided to study and learn more about topics that had to do with my own identity to share that knowledge with my students eventually.

Which authors or books influenced you the most? 

My research has always been interdisciplinary with a particular emphasis on literature and linguistics. On one hand, authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Federico García Lorca, Gabriela Mistral, and Isabel Allende (among so many others!) were the ones who inspired me to learn the language, history, and culture of the Hispanic world; on the other, linguists such as Teun Van Dijk, Norman Fairclough, Pierre Bourdieu, and Ruth Wodak taught me to study and analyze the language and use it appropriately, focusing, particularly, on social issues.

What are you reading right now? 

I am currently reading A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall. Because of the current climate we are living in, I consider it imperative to stay informed about critical situations that are happening in the world, particularly through the eyes of underserved populations. Also, this book was the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Winner for general non-fiction. I highly recommend it!

What are your research interests?

At the moment, using Problem-Based Learning to teach Technical Writing. I'm still in the data gathering phase of this research, but I was able to present this work in progress at a conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma in October. I am also interested in what's called “Knowledge Transfer.” Knowledge Transfer is the idea of learning something in one place and using it in another. I'm particularly interested in the role culture plays in this process.

What inspired you to pursue these topics?

It was my time in Korea that led me to research culture and Knowledge Transfer. There's so much possibility in this realm. Culture is a difficult idea to understand and tricky when it comes to academic research. I currently have a Fulbright and a fellowship with the ACLS under review for this work. With any luck, I will be able to continue my dissertation research while teaching and living in South Korea for a semester.Which authors or books influenced you the most?

Which authors or books influenced you the most?

Michel Foucault. His work on discourse has been enlightening to me. It is through his books that I better understand the role rhetoric plays in making/influencing our understanding of our world.

What are you reading right now?

I'm currently spending most of my time on Problem-Based Learning journals. I also recently picked up a cool copy of Deathbird stories by Harlan Ellison.