Bethanny Sudibyo
Assistant Teaching Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Cultures
Department: World Languages and Cultures
Email: bsudibyo@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-5813
Brief Biography
Dr. Bethanny Sudibyo received her Ph.D. in Spanish literature from the University of Iowa and joined the Elon faculty in 2023. Her teaching and research interests include Iberian and Colonial Philippines literature/cultural productions with the focus on imperialism, race, gender, and fashion. She has taught a variety of courses including Spanish language & culture courses, the WLC study abroad sequence, and COR1100. Dr. Sudibyo is also developing Spanish for Healthcare Professions within the Spanish Program. She serves as the Spanish Club Faculty Advisor, the Faculty-in-Residence for Danieley Neighborhood, a Polyglot LLC Co-Advisor, and a member of the Latin American Studies Board.
News & Notes
Education
Ph.D. (2023) University of Iowa. Dissertation: “Imperial Imaginings: Spanish Narratives on the Late Nineteenth-Century Philippines"
M.A. (2018) University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
B.A. (2016) Wenzao University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Courses Taught
SPN 1015: Elementary Spanish I & II
SPN 2700: Medical Spanish
SPN 3150: Exploring Identities in the Spanish Speaking World
WLC 3010: Preparing for a Semester Abroad
WLC 3020: Making the Most of Your Semester Abroad
SPN 4510: Women's Writing in the Hispanic World
COR1100: How the Sartorial Fashions the World
Grants Awarded
CATL Mini Grant
Funds for Excellence in the Arts and Sciences
FR&D Summer Fellowship
Publications
“En el comercio matritense: Threads of the Hispanic Pacific and Imperial Decline in Fortunata y Jacinta (1887).” Anales Galdosianos. Forthcoming December 2025.
"From Sunday Dresses to Uniforms of Servitude: Sartorial Elements in Carmen de Burgos’s La rampa (1917)." Hispanófila, vol. 198, 2023, p. 119-134. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/hsf.2023.a901033.
Presentations
2025. American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting, virtual session, May 29th-June 1st. "La raza malayo-mahometana: Spanish Colonial Anxieties Towards a Religious Race."
2024. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Annual Conference, French Link, Indiana, Oct 28-30th. “Grading for Growth in Elementary Spanish Classrooms.”
2023. South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA, Nov. 9-11. “The Manila Shawl: Imperial Decadence in Benito Pérez Galdós’s Fortunata y Jacinta (1887).”
2023. Georgetown’s Graduate Portuguese and Hispanic Symposium (GRAPHSY), Washington DC, Feb. 17. “‘Argelinos del Asia’: El encuentro con los moros filipinos en la Exposición General de las islas Filipinas (1887).”
2022. Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA) Annual Convention, Minneapolis, MN, Nov. 17-20. “Josefa Estévez García del Canto and Her Writings on the Late Spanish Philippines.”
2021. Philippines Studies Association National Conference: 500 Years of Christianity, virtual conference hosted in Manila, Philippines, August 25-27. “Representations of Muslims in Antonio García del Canto’s Los piratas de Filipinas (1888).”
2021. 72nd KFLC: The Languages, Literatures and Cultures Conference, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, April 22-24. “From vestidos domingueros to criada gris: Fashion and Dress in Carmen de Burgos’s La rampa (1917).”
2020. Spanish-Language Filipino Cultural Production and other East-West Cultural Exchanges, Bø, Norway, May 25-26. “Pacita ó la virtuosa filipina: Race, Gender and Nation in the 19th Century Spanish Philippines.” (Cancelled due to COVID-19)
2019. 39th Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures, Cincinnati, OH, April 5-6. “Legualá: The Moorish Lady and Her Response Towards the Archpriest of Hita in Libro de Buen Amor.”
2017. South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA, November 3-5. “‘El comer bien o el comer mal’: El consumismo, la gastronomía y clase en La desheredada y Los Pazos de Ulloa.”
Service Activities
Latin American Studies Board Member
Faculty-in-Residence in Danieley Neighborhood
Polyglot LLC Co-Advisor
Elon University Honor Board (2024-2025)