Title
Professor, French and Spanish
Department
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Programs
French, Spanish
Office Location
Hall Memorial Building (HMB)
S-233E
TTY: 202-651-5564
Voice Phone: 202-651-5564
FAX: 202-651-5597
Email Address
cristina.berdichevsky@gallaudet.edu
Secondary Email
cberdich@gmail.com
- Ph.D., Rutgers, French, 1993
- M.A., McMaster University, 1987
- BA, Universidad del Salvador, 1974
- Certificate in Education, Escuela Normal, 1968
Originally from Argentina, Dr. Cristi Berdichevsky has degrees in Spanish and in French.
She has been teaching Spanish and French at Gallaudet for over 15 years.
Due to her commitment to improving the lives of deaf people in developing countries, particularly in Latin America, Dr. Berdichevsky has received external and internal grants to establish a "deaf friendly" version of the Peace Corps, knows as the International Deaf Partnerships. This program involves deaf peer mentoring through internships and service projects among US deaf college students and deaf people in four Latin American countries, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico. The program is in the process of being expanded to Cameroon and to Gabon, Africa.
As a way to better advocate for the rights of deaf people in Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico, Dr. Berdichevsky is currently working on a multimedia anthology to document their lives through videotaped interviews in their local sign languages, in collaboration with their national and regional deaf associations.
Dr. Berdichevsky's main area of academic research is related to feminist perspectives on social violence against 18th century French women who struggled to empower themselves as authors. Her MA focused on social violence in three 18th century French novels; her Ph.D. deals with gender issues in Mme de Stäel's works. She's currently working on a manuscript dealing with gender and genre issues in several British and French women authors who lived around the time of the French Revolution. In light of her commitment to promote the empowerment of dissenting voices, Dr. Berdichevsky has been involved in resurrecting the Gallaudet AAUP Chapter and served as AAUP President for two terms.
Women Rights at the time of the French Revolution; Feminist Perspectives in 18th Century French and British Women's Writings; Empowerment of Deaf communities in Latin America and Africa; Service-Learning in conjunction with and on behalf of Deaf People in Developing Countries; International Internships for Deaf College Students; Learning Disabilities and Deafness.
