Dr. Leslie Maxwell Kaiura

Associate Professor - Spanish

Contact

1310 Ben Graves Drive
Morton Hall
Room 234
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.6426
leslie.kaiura@uah.edu

Biography

Dr. Leslie Maxwell Kaiura, originally from Cairo, Georgia, holds degrees from Columbus State University in Georgia (B.A. in English), Auburn University (M.A. in Spanish), and University of Virginia (Ph.D. in Spanish, 2008). Her areas of specialization are 19th and early 20th-Century Spanish literature and culture, with an emphasis on violence against women in law, religion, popular fiction, and journalism. More recently, she has opened a second line of research into contemporary crime fiction. Dr. Kaiura has traveled and studied in Mexico and Spain and has over 20 years of teaching experience. She teaches language, literature, and culture courses and also has a special interest in teaching medical Spanish.

Dr. Kaiura has presented her research and pedagogical work many conferences, and she has also published articles and book chapters that explore the works of authors such as Patrocinio de Biedma, Fernán Caballero, Carmen de Burgos, Rafael López de Haro, Alberto Valero Martín, and Claudia Piñeiro. These articles have been featured in the journals Stichomythia: Revista de Teatro Contempáraneo [Journal of Contemporary Theater], Decimonónica: Journal of Nineteenth-Century Hispanic Cultural Production, the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Hispanet Journal, the MIFLC Review, The Latin Americanist, and Revista Úrsula. Her book chapters have appeared in the volumes Kiosk Literature in Silver Age Spain: Modernity and Mass Culture, Mito e historia en la televisión y el cine español [Myth and History in Spanish Television and Cinema], and Del salvaje siglo XIX al inestable siglo XX en las letras peninsulares [From the Savage 19th Century to the Unstable 20th Century in Peninusular Literature]. Dr. Kaiura is currently pursuing a book project about adultery and wife-murder in the press and popular literature during Spain’s Silver Age (approximately 1898-1936).

Recent Publications

  • “Defending the Unfaithful Female Body in Un crimen pasional (1922) by Author and Attorney Alberto Valero Martín.” Revista Úrsula, vol. 9, 2025, pp. 44-68.

  • “Femicide, Gender Identity, and the Limits of Feminist Solidarity in Claudia Piñeiro’s Tuya and El tiempo de las moscas.” The Latin Americanist: SECOLAS Annals, vol. 69, no. 1, 2025, pp. 87-106.

  • “La Palabra pervertida: Prosperity Gospel, Injustice, and Crime in El reino (Netflix, 2021).” Hispanic Studies Review, vol. 8, no. 1, Jan. 2024.

  • “Atheism and the Critique of Religion in Claudia Piñeiro’s Catedrales.” MIFLC Review, vol. 22, 2023, pp. 83-101.

  • “Del ángel del hogar al monstruo de la lujuria: Género y ciencia en dos novelas populares.” Del salvaje siglo XIX al inestable siglo XX en las letras peninsulares: una mirada retrospectiva a través de hispanistas. Ed. Ana Isabel Simón Alegre. Wilmington: Vernon Press, 2022. 143-58.

  • “El asesino del rosario: Gender in the Stranglehold of Church and State in El Caso: Crónica de Sucesos.” Mito e historia en la televisión y el cine español. Ed. Christine Blackshaw Naberhaus. Valencia, Spain: Albatros Ediciones, 2019. 149-74.

  • “Getting Away with Wife Murder: Article 438 in the Press and Popular Fiction.” Kiosk Literature in Silver Age Spain: Modernity and Mass Culture. Eds. Susan Larson and Jeffrey Zamostny. Chicago: Intellect Press, 2017. 287-309.

  • “Company” (Short Story). AcademFic: A Journal of Fiction by Academics 1(2020): 56–71.

  • “Narrow Skulls and Vile Flesh: The Failure of Female Anatomy and Feminist Critique in Rafael López de Haro’s En el cuerpo de una mujer.” Hispanet Journal 6 (2013): 1–32.

  • “FernánCaballero’s Lessons for Ladies: Female Agency and the Modeling of Proper Womanhood in Clemencia.” Decimonónica: Journal of Nineteenth-Century Hispanic Cultural Production. 9:1 (2012): 17–33.