Two guest researchers in Romance studies
Strong Women
- 05.12.2024
Two extraordinary postdoctoral researchers from Equatorial Guinea and Brazil/Israel are currently guests at the Institute for Romance Languages and Literatures in the department of Prof. Dr. Susanne Zepp-Zwirner. They are united by their research interest in Spanish and Hispanic American literature and their feminist approach. Their topics are challenging and courageous. We introduce the two, who are funded by the Humboldt Foundation.
Dr. Trifonia Melibea Obono Ntutumu (born 1982): She is not only a researcher,but also one of the most prominent literary voices of Equatorial Guinea, a nation with a history as a Spanish colony. Obono Ntutumu has authored several award-winning novels, short stories, and numerous scholarly articles. Her work primarily focuses on women's rights and sexual self-determination in Africa, addressing critical social and cultural issues with profound insight.
At the UDE, she is researching how gender-based violence against LGBTQIA+ persons is represented in contemporary Spanish-language literature from Africa and Latin America. The project addresses a significant research gap by incorporating works that have previously received limited scholarly attention.
Obono Ntutumu studied at the University of Murcia, completed a doctorate in the interdisciplinary program “Gender Equality Policy” at the University of Salamanca and served as a professor of journalism and political science at the National University of Equatorial Guinea from 2012 to 2023.
Dr. Laís Maria Rosal Botler (born 1988): Her academic interest is how belonging is portrayed in the work of Latin American women writers. At UDE, Botler Botler conducts research on the works of Black and Indigenous female authors, focusing on both the portrayal of characters in their novels and the intellectual biographies of the authors themselves.
Botler led the "Identity and Belonging" study group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Department of Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin American Studies, where she also earned her doctorate. Her academic contributions extend further as a member of the "Brazilian-Italian Cultural Contact Network," supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her doctoral research focused on the work of renowned Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, exploring themes of identity, gender, and existentialism. This work highlights Botler’s engagement with Brazilian literature and her expertise in analyzing the intersections of culture, language, and belonging in a global context.
Picture:
Dr. Trifonia Melibea Obono Ntutu (l.) and Dr. Laís Maria Rosal Botler (r.)