Noralis Rodriguez-Coss, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Department Co-Chair of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

I incorporate a teaching philosophy based on a feminist praxis approach. I describe this strategy as a combination of a learner-centered approach with initiatives to put in practice theory in various ways. I use the learner-centered approach to incite...

Noralis Rodriguez-Coss, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., Feminist Studies, University of Washington

M.A., Women’s Studies, Southern Connecticut State University

B.A., Office System Administration, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao

Courses Taught

WGST 380: Transnational Feminism

WGST 205: Gender and Popular Culture

WGST 202: Gender, Difference, and Power

WGST 193: Feminist Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean


I incorporate a teaching philosophy based on a feminist praxis approach. I describe this strategy as a combination of a learner-centered approach with initiatives to put in practice theory in various ways. I use the learner-centered approach to incite students to take responsibility for their learning experience, and to promote collective work. The practice of theory encourages students to be creative and explore new perspectives outside of their comfort zone. My teaching interests echo my research interests and focus in the areas of gender violence, feminist activism, public protests, and Body, Decolonial, Performance, and Island Studies.

Rodríguez-Coss, N. (2023). Discourses of Complicit Denial and their Relationship to Gender-based Violence in Puerto Rico. CENTRO Journal, 35(2), 49–72.

Valdovinos, M.G.; Rodríguez-Coss, N.; Parekh, R. (2020, January). Healing through Ancestral Knowledge and Letters to Our Children: Mothering Infants during a Global Pandemic. Genealogy , 4 (119). https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4040119

Rodríguez-Coss, N. (2020). Re-framing the enemy within in academia. In J. Van Galen & J. Sablan (Eds.), Amplified voices, intersectional identities (pp. 137-142). Brill Publishers.

Pristed Nielsen, H. & Rodríguez-Coss, N. (2020). Island Studies through Love and Affection to Power and Politics. In F. Gaini & H. Pristed Nielsen (Eds.), Gendered and island communities (pp. 158-173). Routledge.

Rodríguez-Coss, N. (2020). An Intersectional Analysis of Island Feminist Praxis in Puerto Rico. In F. Gaini & H. Pristed Nielsen (Eds.), Gendered and island communities. (pp. 82-99). Routledge.

Rodríguez-Coss, N. (2020, March). A Feminist Intersectional Analysis of Economic and Resource (In)Equality in Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria. Gonzaga Journal of International Law, 23 (1), 97–113. 

My research interests are in the areas of gender violence, feminist activism, public protests, and Body, Decolonial, Performance, and Island Studies. Currently, I am collaborating with other scholars to push forward a new field of study that focuses on Island Feminisms. My work on this project focuses on Island Feminism from a Puerto Rican context.