Dr. Camila Bari De Lopez, an associate professor of Spanish at Westminster College, recently presented a paper at an international conference held at the Universidad of Santiago de Chile.

"I presented a paper on Social Stratification and Legitimation of the Mestizo Ethnicity for Establishing Latin American Republics in Juan de la Rose: Memoirs of the Last Soldier of the Independence Movement by Nataniel Aguirre,'" Lopez said.

"For the presentation of my paper, I decided to offer a brief introduction on the methodology of finding true social information in a fictional work," Lopez said.  "My explanation about layers of meaning and the steps I followed in successive readings to finally uncover the pragmatics of the novel beyond the fictional plot received a rewarding interest from the audience of mostly sociologists and historians.  The use of metonymy as a way to convey a hidden meaning was also commented and connected to historical issues by this very receptive public."

Lopez, who has been with Westminster College since 1997, earned her undergraduate degree from the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and her Ph.D. from the University at Albany.

For more information, contact Lopez at (724) 946-7258 or e-mail baridec@westminster.edu.

Dr. Camila Bari De Lopez