Ginette Alomar Eldredge

A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Eldredge's field of study is Iberian (Medieval and Golden Age) and Transatlantic Studies. Dr. Eldredge began her graduate studies in Medieval Literature at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in 2012 under the mentorship of Dr. Carmen Benito-Vessels, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2017. Her field of study is the representation of women in the literature of the Middle Ages, which led her to her current project titled: Desire and shame: women and lovesickness in Juan de Flores' Grisel y Mirabella. In her research, Dr. Eldredge blends feminist scholarship with literary and historical analysis of medieval Spanish medical texts to analyze the effect of lovesickness on female characters in 15th-century Spain. Her work is unique—previous scholars have focused on depictions of lovesick men in medieval Spanish texts but have overlooked depictions of women, partly because the Spanish medieval literary and medical tradition does not explicitly depict women as susceptible to lovesickness. In 2015, she was awarded The International Graduate Research Fellowship (IRGF), sponsored by The Graduate School, and co-sponsored by SPAP and SLLC. The fellowship supports advanced research in an international context fostering ongoing collaborations between UMD scholars and their international colleagues. Under the fellowship, Ginette conducted research and field studies related to her dissertation project at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, under the tutelage of Dr. Ángel Gómez Moreno, a renowned medievalist in Peninsular Studies and director of the Medieval Research Studies Group. She also received SLLC’s Travel Award in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Since 2016 she has been the Program Director for the Department's Study Abroad Winter Program in Seville. She is currently the Program Director of SPAP's Spring Break Program to Saint James Way/El Camino de Santiago in Galicia. In 2013 she published a book review of Carlos Alvar’s book De los caballeros del temple al Santo Grial, published in eHumanista volume 24 (2013). She holds a B.A. in Humanities (Magna Cum Laude) and M.A. in Spanish Studies (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Among her academic projects is to publish her dissertation, also to editing the works of Juan de Segura, who wrote the last known sentimental novel, and to publish an article focusing on how female writers during the colonial period in Lima, Perú utilized the narrative of lovesickness to blend religious and secular ideas. During her free time she likes to run, travel, and enjoy the outdoors. She lives in Old Town Alexandria, Virgina, with her two Golden Retrievers Niebla (Unamuno) and Lexie Belle.