Dr Victoria Carpenter

Head of Research Development

I graduated with BSc Summa Cum Laude in Foreign Language Education/Spanish from University of Central Florida in 1996. I obtained my PhD in Hispanic Studies in 2000 from University of Hull.

I started out as a lecturer in Spanish at the University of Derby, moving into research management and leadership.

At the University of Bedfordshire, I am Head of Research Development, providing academic oversight of postgraduate research degree programmes, developing and delivering research skills training to staff and students, supervising PhD students in a variety of disciplines, and researching in the field of Area and Cultural Studies.

My research interests are varied (see ‘Research Interests’ below). However, my main specialisms are the relationship between emotions and factual accuracy in the narratives of violent and catastrophic events, cross-disciplinary approaches to literary analysis, and power distribution in first-person narratives. I am particularly interested in these themes within Latin American literature, especially XX-century Mexican literature.

November 2008 - Diploma in Management Studies, University Of Derby, UK
Specialising in HRM and Organisational Change.
July 2000 - PhD in Hispanic Studies, University of Hull, UK
December 1996 - BSc in Spanish / Foreign Language Education, University Of Central Florida, USA
Summa Cum Laude (equivalent to First Class Honours). Graduated 4th in my class of 212.

Relationship between facts and emotions in the narratives of violent and catastrophic events;
Power distribution in narratives of violent events;
Conflict prevention through the analysis of the discourse of two conflicting sides;
Discursive mediation during the recovery period following natural disasters in the coastal Caribbean;
Trust, power and control;
Collaborative enquiry between sciences and humanities;
Identity theory in the context of social networks;
Identity appropriation through discourse control.

Books

The Tlatelolco Massacre, Mexico 1968, and the Emotional Triangle of Anger, Grief and Shame: Discourses of Truth(s), Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2018.

Edited Volumes

Interface between Literature and Science: Cross-disciplinary Approaches to Latin American Texts, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
A World in Words, a Life in Texts: Revisiting Latin American Cultural Heritage, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011.
(Re)Collecting the Past: History and Collective Memory in Latin American Narrative, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010.
A World Torn Apart: Representation of Violence in Latin American Narrative, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2007.

Book Chapters

‘“2 October Is Not Forgotten”: Tlatelolco 1968 Massacre and Social Memory Frameworks’, in Memory and Postcolonial Studies: Synergies and New Directions, ed. Dirk Göttsche, Oxford, Bern: Peter Lang, 2019.
‘Strings, Branes and Hidden Texts in Obsesivos días circulares (1969) by Gustavo Sainz’, in Interface between Literature and Science: Cross-disciplinary Approaches to Latin American Texts, ed. Victoria Carpenter, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
Victoria Carpenter and Paul Halpern, ‘Out of the Darkness into the Darkness: Time Travel in Ernesto Sábato’s El túnel and Connie Willis’ Blackout and All Clear’, in Interface between Literature and Science: Cross-disciplinary Approaches to Latin American Texts, ed. Victoria Carpenter, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
‘Power Tug of War: Hegemonic and Posthegemonic Text Control in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos días circulares (1969)’, in Men, Power and Liberation: Readings of Masculinities in Spanish American Literatures, ed. Amit Thakkar and Chris Harris, London: Routledge, 2015.
‘Temporal Permutations in Octavio Paz’s “Piedra de sol”’, in A World in Words, a Life in Texts: Revisiting Latin American Cultural Heritage, ed. Victoria Carpenter, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011.
‘When Was Tomorrow? Manipulation of Time and Memory in the Works of Mexican Onda’, in (Re)Collecting the Past: History and Collective Memory in Latin American Literature, ed. Victoria Carpenter, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010.
‘“La sangre en el cemento”: Violence, Fantasy and Myth in the Poetic Accounts of the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre’, in A World Torn Apart: Representations of Violence in Latin American Narrative, ed. Victoria Carpenter, Oxford: Peter Lang, 2007.

Refereed Journal Articles – Single Authorship

‘”Mi Nuh Go in the Car”: Pride and Defiance in the Recovery Narratives of Jamaican Fishing Villages’, Area (in preparation).
‘When a Habit Meets a Habit at the City Dump: Resilience of Habit in Única mirando al mar by Fernando Contreras Castro’, Forum for Modern Language Studies (under review).
‘Dancing in a Hurricane: State and Public Response to Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica’, The Caribbean Quarterly (in print).
‘Damn the Suit and the Tailor Who Made It: Power Struggle between the Narrator and the Editor in Nuevas coplas y cantares del temible bardo Eudomóndaro Higuera alias el Tuerto’, Hispanic Review (under review).
‘Crossing Power Borders in a Tight Leather Suit: Loci of Power in Pell-mell by Gustavo Sainz’, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos (under review).
‘The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty: Memories of 1968 in Luis González de Alba’s Los días y los años (1971) and Otros días, otros años (2008)’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (under review).
‘Between the Stone and the Mirror: Tlatelolco 1968 Massacre and Poetic Debates on the History of Violence’, Chasqui, 47.2 (2018), pp. 86-99.
‘“La Plaza era una trampa”: Emotional Violence of Tlatelolco 1968 in Luis Spota’s La Plaza’, Confluencia, 33.2 (2018), pp. 40-52.
‘“Y el olor de la sangre manchaba el aire”: Tlatelolco 1521 and 1968 in José Emilio Pacheco’s “Lectura de los ‘Cantares Mexicanos”’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 95.4 (2018), pp. 451-74.
‘“You Want the Truth? You Can’t Handle the Truth”: Poetic Representations of the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre’, Journal of Latin American Research, 21:1 (2015), pp. 35-49.
‘Power Tug of War: Hegemonic and Posthegemonic Text Control in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos días circulares (1969)’, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 20:1 (2014), pp. 31-49.
‘Realidades en lucha abierta: el conflicto entre la realidad objetiva y el descubrimiento científico en la ciencia-ficción mexicana’, Revista Iberoamericana, 78:238-239 (2012), pp. 165-179.
‘Erasing Male Characters from Álbum de familia by Rosario Castellanos’, Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe, 21:2 (2010), pp. 61-76.
‘Under My (Editorial) Thumb: Hegemonic Masculinity and Text Ownership in the Works of Mexican Onda’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 87:6 (2010), pp. 667-83.
‘“Me cae que no me entiendes”: Multi-language Text in the Mexican Onda’, Romance Studies, 27:3 (2009), pp. 180-91.
‘Transitory Literature or “Brave New Text”: A Comparative Analysis of José Agustín’s Works’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 84:2 (2007), pp. 213-26.
‘Tlatelolco 1968 in Contemporary Mexican Literature’ (special section), Bulletin of Latin American Research, 24:4 (2005).
‘The Echo of Tlatelolco in Contemporary Mexican Protest Poetry’ Bulletin of Latin American Research, 24:4 (2005), pp. 496-512.
‘From Yellow to Red to Black: Tantric Reading of “Blanco” by Octavio Paz’, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 21:4 (2002), pp. 527-44.
‘Dream-sex and Time Travel: The Subject of “Piedra de sol” by Octavio Paz’, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (Glasgow), LXXVIII (2001), pp. 493-513. This article has been chosen to appear in Twentieth Century Literature Criticism, vol. 211.
Refereed Journal Articles – Joint Authorship
Victoria Carpenter and Lakhbir Singh, ‘Stages of Recovery after Natural Disasters’, Geoforum (under review).
Victoria Carpenter and Lakhbir Singh, ‘The Role of Social Actors in Recovery after Natural Disasters: A Case Study of Jamaica’, Geoforum (under review).
Victoria Carpenter and Paul Halpern, ‘A Bridge between Worlds: Parallel Universes and the Observer in “The Celestial Plot”’, Kronoscope, 19 (2019), pp. 111-29.
Reza Montasari, Richard Hill, Victoria Carpenter and Farshad Montaseri, ‘Digital Forensic Investigation of Social Media, Acquisition and Analysis of Digital Evidence’, International Journal of Strategic Engineering 2:1 (2019), pp. 52-60.
Reza Montasari, Victoria Carpenter and Richard Hill, ‘A Road Map for Digital Forensics Research: A Novel Approach for Establishing the Design Science Research Process in Digital Forensics’, International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 11:2 (2019), pp. 194-224.
Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter, ‘A Case Study of Emerging Challenges and Reflections on Internationalization of Higher Education’, International Education Studies, 7:9 (2014), pp. 50-56.
Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter, ‘A Case Study of Issues of Strategy Implementation in Internationalization of Higher Education’, International Journal of Educational Management, 27:1 (2013), pp. 4-18.
Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter, ‘Faculty-Specific Factors of Degree of HE Internationalization: An Evaluation of Four Faculties of a UK Post-1992 University’, International Journal of Educational Management, 27:3 (2013), pp. 242-59.
Dave Lees and Victoria Carpenter, ‘A Qualitative Assessment of Providing Quality Electronically Mediated Feedback for Students in Higher Education’, International Journal of Learning Technology, 7:1 (2012), pp. 95-110.
Victoria Carpenter and Paul Halpern, ‘Quantum Mechanics and Literature: An Analysis of El túnel by Ernesto Sábato’, The Ometeca Journal, 17 (2012), pp.167-87.
Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter, ‘Market Entry Dynamic Framework for Higher Education Internationalisation’, Journal of International Education in Business, 4:2 (2011), pp. 141-58.

Committees of Academic Societies

2012 - present Latin American Literary Studies Association – Founding President;
2011 - 2013 Society for Latin American Studies – ordinary committee member;
2007 - 2009 Society for Latin American Studies – ordinary committee member;
2005 - 2007 Society for Latin American Studies – Vice President;
2001 - 2005 Society for Latin American Studies – Secretary (two terms);
1999 - 2001 Society for Latin American Studies – President of Postgraduates in Latin American Studies, SLAS Committee Postgraduate representative.

‘Shoes That Nobody Wore: Tlatelolco 1968 Massacre’, York Festival of Ideas, 2016.
‘Can You Handle the Truth?’, YorNight 2015: European Researchers’ Night, University of York, 2015.
‘Lost in the Garden of Forking Paths’ (presented with Paul Halpern, University of Science in Philadelphia), York Festival of Ideas, 2015.
‘Checking out of the Hexagon: Quantum Mechanics in Jorge Luis Borges’ “La biblioteca de Babel”’, LONCON3: The 72^nd World Science Fiction Convention, London, 2014.
‘Last Man Standing: Crossing the Borders of Male Power Struggle in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos días circulares (1969)’, JISLAC Seminar ‘Border Masculinities’, 2014.
‘A Dark and Lonely Tunnel: Fragmented Narrative in El Túnel by Ernesto Sábato’, University of Sheffield Hispanic Research Seminar, 2014.
‘Finally, the Whole Truth? Hegemonic and Posthegemonic Approaches to the Representation of Violent Events in Latin American History’, Keynote presentation, New Horizons Conference, University of Derby, 2012.
‘Power Tug of War: Hegemonic and Posthegemonic Text Control in Gustavo Sainz’s Obsesivos días circulares (1969)’, JISLAC Seminar ‘Masculinities and Violence in Latin American Cultures’, December 2010.
‘Re-member Them: Destruction of Memory as a Means of Re-creating the Narrative in the Works of Mexican Onda’, Institute of Latin American Studies, Liverpool, 2006.

‘King Creole Does Mariachi: Manipulation of Anglophone Popular Culture in the Works of the Mexican Onda’, Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference, ISCTE, University Institute of Lisbon, 2021.
‘Crossing Power Borders in a Tight Leather Suit: Loci of Power in A troche y moche by Gustavo Sainz’, Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland Conference, UCD, 2021.
‘When a Habit Meets a Habit at the City Dump: Resilience of Habit in Única mirando al mar by Fernando Contreras Castro’, Midwest Modern Languages Association Conference, Milwaukee, USA, 2021.
‘Tell It Like It Is: (Mis)Reading Press Coverage of the Tlatelolco 1968 Massacre’, 2016 MHRA Conference ‘Have you Heard…? Navigating the Interstices Between Public and Private Knowledge’, IMLR, London, 2016.
“‘2 October Is Not Forgotten”: Tlatelolco 1968 Massacre and Social Memory Frameworks’, Memory and Postcolonial Studies Symposium, University of Nottingham, 2016.
‘“Y el olor de la sangre manchaba el aire”: Tlatelolco 1521 and 1968 in José Emilio Pacheco’s “Lectura de los “Cantares Mexicanos”’, Latin American Literary Studies Association Annual Conference, York St John University, 2015.
‘Carajo, qué soledad’: Ironic Loneliness in René Avilés Fabila’s El gran solitario de palacio’, Latin American Literary Studies Association Annual Conference, Derby, 2014.
‘Tunneling out of Solitude: Temporal Changes in Ernesto Sábato’s El túnel’, Latin American Literary Studies Association Inaugural Conference, University of Derby, 2013.
‘Darkness at the End of the Tunnel: Multiple Narrative Lines in El túnel by Ernesto Sábato’, Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland Annual Conference, University of Oxford, 2013.
‘A Dark and Lonely Tunnel’: Time Travel in El túnel (1948) by Ernesto Sábato’, British Society for Literature and Science Conference, University of Cardiff, 2013.
‘Nothing but the Truth, Take Two: The Mechanisms of Creating a Collective Memory in the Tlatelolco 1968 Discourse’, Society for Latin American Studies Conference, University of Sheffield, 2012.