Lila McDowell Carlsen

Vice Provost

Professor of Hispanic Studies

International Studies and Languages Division, Seaver College

310.506.4215

Biography

Dr. Carlsen teaches Latin American literature and culture. Her research explores contemporary Chilean and Mexican narrative in response to social and political upheaval. She has published peer-reviewed articles on major authors including Isabel Allende, Antonio Skármeta, Diamela Eltit, Roberto Bolaño, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Ramón Díaz Eterovic. Dr. Carlsen directs undergraduate research and includes community-based learning in her courses.

Education

PhD, Spanish, University of California, Riverside,
MA, Spanish, Baylor University,
BA, Spanish, Baylor University, summa cum laude, Honors with distinction

Research
Awards
Presentations
Grants

Carlsen, Lila McDowell. “Isabel Allende: Patron Saint Exiles, Queen of World Literature.” Chilean Literature as World Literature. Eds. Juan Poblete and Thoman Nunez Valdez. Bloomsbury. Forthcoming 2025.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. “Pablo Neruda and His Works in the United States, UK, and the Anglophone World.” Neruda in Context. Ed. Ignacio López Calvo. Cambridge UP. Forthcoming 2025.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. Review of “Ferreira, César, and Jason R. Jolley. Antonio Skármeta: Nuevas lecturas / New Readings. Universidad Ricardo Palma, Editorial Universitaria, 2017. Pp. 206” Transmodernity Vol 12.1. Dec. 2024. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/90b8n7v8
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. Review of “Fabry, Genevieve. Pasiones chilenas: representaciones de Cristo en la poesía (de Rosa Araneda a Raúl Zurita). Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert. 2022. 419 pp.” Bulletin of Spanish Studies. 2024.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. “Suspended Utopia: The 1988 Chilean Plebiscite in Antonio Skármeta’s Los días del arcoíris.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, University of Puerto Rico 9.2 (2023).
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. Book Review of “De Castro, Juan E. Writing Revolution: From Martí to García Márquez to Bolaño. Vanderbilt University Press, 2019. 272 pp.” Transmodernity Volume 10, Issue 1, Fall 2022.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. “Isabel Allende, the Chilean Post-Boom, and Exile Literature,” The Cambridge History of Chilean Literature. Ed. Ignacio López Calvo. Cambridge University Press. 2021.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. "The House of the Japanese Spirits: Orientalism and Magical Realism in Isabel Allende's El amante japonès." Transmodernity (Spring 2018). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/36x200qv
Blanco, Luisa, Lila Carlsen, Dan Morrison, George Carlsen, Ashley Chaparro, and Eric Molina. "Precious Paradise: The Financial Well-being of Hispanic Immigrant Day Laborers in Malibu." Latinos in the 21st Century: Their Voices and Lived Experiences. Eds. Inigo Álvarez & Ada Vargas. NY: Nova Publishers, 2018.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. "Inhospitable Text: Critical Dystopia in Los vigilantes by Diamela Eltit" Letras Femeninas 50.2 (Winter 2014).
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. "Absurdity and Utopia in Roberto Bolaño's Estrella distante and 'Sensini.'" Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura 30.1 (Fall 2014): 138-151.
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. "Utopia, Archive, and Anarchy in Los siete hijos de Simenon by Ramòn Díaz Eterovic." Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature 35.2 (Summer 2011).
Carlsen, Lila McDowell. "'Te conozco de cuando eras árbol': Gender, Utopianism, and the Border in Cristina Rivera Garza's La cresta de Iliòn." Symposium: Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures 64.4 (Winter 2010): 229-242.
McDowell, Lila Cole. The Utopian Impulse in Chilean and Mexican Novels, 1990-2005, University of California, Riverside, 2008, Ph.D. dissertation directed by Raymond Leslie Williams.

EAB Higher Education Leaders Fellow, Founding Cohort Member, 2020-2021
Course Release for Research, Seaver College, 2016-2019
Sabbatical Leave for Research, Seaver College, Fall 2015
Seaver Fellow in International Studies and Languages, 2012-2013
Dissertation Year Fellowship, University of California, Riverside, 2008
Hispanic Studies Research Scholarship, University of California, Riverside, 2008
Distinguished Chancellor's Fellowship, University of California Riverside, 2005-2008
Outstanding Teaching Assistant in Spanish, University of California, Riverside, 2007
Baylor President's Fellowship, 2003-2005
Phi Beta Kappa Award for Research, Baylor University, 2003
Outstanding Graduate of Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences, 2003

“Strategic Academic Change: Planning with Purpose” EAB Rising Higher Education Leaders Fellowship. Mar. 12, 2021.
"Cultivating Spanish Language and Cultural Acquisition through the Google Ecosystem." American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Salamanca, Spain, June 22-26, 2018.
"The House of the Japanese Spirits: Orientalism and Magical Realism in Isabel Allende's El amante japonés." East-West Intercultural Relations Conference, Seoul National University, Korea, May 12-13, 2017.
"Democracy and Dictatorship in Los días del arcoíris by Antonio Skármeta." American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Chicago, July 6-8, 2017.
"From Apathy to Engagement: The 1988 Chilean Plebiscite in No by Pablo Larraín." Southern California Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, LMU, Nov. 12, 2016.
"Global Competence Through High-Impact Practices in the World Language Classroom" with Kelle Keating Marshall and Fiona Stewart, ACTFL, San Diego, CA, Nov. 2015.
"Undergraduate Research in Spanish as a High-Impact Practice: Challenges and Opportunities." Southern California Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, USC, Oct. 25, 2014.
"The Recuperation of Collective Memory and the Struggle for Justice in El diario de Agustín." American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Panama City, Panama, July 8-11, 2014.
"Assessment Fundamentals for Enhanced Student Learning in the Spanish Program." American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. San Antonio, TX, July 10, 2013.
"Borderline Gender and Utopia in the Fiction of Cristina Rivera Garza." Latin American Studies Association. Washington, D.C., May 29, 2013.
"Linking Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Assessment in the Four-Year College and University Spanish Program." Southern California Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Pitzer College, April 14, 2012.
"New Directions in Chilean Detective Fiction: Transnational Tendencies in the Novels of Marcela Serrano, Ramón Díaz Eterovic, and Roberto Bolaño." New Directions in the Humanities Conference. Granada, Spain, June 8-10, 2011.
"Ekphrasis and the Absurd in Roberto Bolaño's Estrella distante." Southern California Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Occidental College, Oct. 30, 2010.
"Absurd Star: Roberto Bolaño's Fiction and Contemporary Latin American Literature." Session Chair. Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies. Pepperdine University, Nov. 5-6, 2010.
"Memory and Post-Memory as Moral Demands in El desierto by Carlos Franz." American Association of Teacher of Spanish and Portuguese. Guadalajara, Mexico, July 10-13, 2010.
"Utopia in Roberto Bolaño's Fiction: A Search for Justice?" Special Session: Roberto Bolaño. Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. Lexington, KY, April 15, 2010.
"Anarchist Utopia and the Archive in Los siete hijos de Simenon by Ramón Díaz Eterovic." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, KY, April 17, 2009.

Seaver Research Council Grant 2015-2016
Community Based Research Grant, Hispanics and Financial Well-Being, with Luisa Blanco (PI), George Carlsen & Dan Morrison, Pepperdine University, 2015
Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative (AYURI), 2010, 2011, 2014
Service Learning Grant 2012, 2014, 2015

Areas of Expertise

Latin American Literature and Culture
Democracy and Dictatorship in Latin America
Chilean Literature, Culture, and History

Topics

Latin American Fiction of the 20th & 21st Centuries
Latin American Literature
Utopian and Dystopian Studies

Courses