Manuel Martinez came to Bloomington immediately after receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University. During the course of the 1997-98 academic year, Dr. Martinez taught several courses for IU's English Department, including Literature of the Counter-Culture and Chicano Literature. The former links nicely with his soon-to-be-published dissertation entitled "Migrating Text: Movement Discourse and the Counter-Culture." In it, Martinez discusses twofold meaning of the word "movement" and how that word can be used to mean both a social or literary movement as well as to mean the actual physical movements described in such Beat Generation novels as Jack Kerouac's On the Road. In a paper presented while at IU, Martinez posited that while artists involved in the Beat Movement viewed movement as liberating, the kind of forced movement migrant workers undergo is anything but. These issues are the subject of Martinez's forthcoming novel called Crossing, an account of an actual incident concerning the accidental death of Mexican migrant workers traveling in a freight train refrigerator car.
Describing Crossing as an "existential Chicano novel," Martinez states that creative writing was his first priority when he began his graduate study. Now, however, his interests have broadened to include not only the writing but the study of literature, as well as issues pertaining to Chicano/a culture. Hailing originally from San Antonio, TX, Martinez got a Masters in English at Ohio State University before moving on to Stanford for his Ph.D.
It was not until arriving in Bloomington, however, that Martinez got the chance to teach full time, or to teach courses he had developed himself. "I'm enjoying teaching a lot more than I thought I would," he says, "Working with students has been the high point of a really productive year." About challenging his students with such difficult texts as Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch, Martinez states, "the students at IU are just as smart and self-directed as any students I've come into contact with." It is clear that his students and IU faculty think just as highly of him; Martinez has been offered a permanent position as a tenure-track faculty member of the English Department. Indiana University is proud and excited to add such a vibrant and versatile scholar to its ranks.
Coming directly from Palo Alto, CA, Martinez wondered whether he would enjoy working at a large university in a relatively small town. Once he arrived, however, it soon became clear that he would be quite happy here. Martinez marvels at how Bloomington maintains a small town flavor while simultaneously offering countless scholarly and cultural opportunities. "I've even found a place to go Latin dancing!" he exclaims.