selected works
Beyond Life and Eros: An Existential-Hermeneutic Exploration of Mortality in Anaïs Nin's A Joyous Transformation: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1966–1977
Anaïs Nin, a prolific diarist, writer, and lay psychoanalyst, has garnered significant scholarly attention for her exploration of themes related to eros and sexuality in her diaries. However, this essay explores a less-explored facet of Nin's work—themes of death and mortality—through a close reading of her final unexpurgated diaries, A Joyous Transformation: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1966–1977. Employing Existential Hermeneutic Analysis, this study delves into Nin's existential contemplations, unveiling the interplay between life, eros, and mortality within the pages of her diaries. This examination hopes to offer insights into Nin's introspections regarding mortality, enriching our understanding of her literary legacy and life.
Cut Open: Miscarriage and the (Dead) Mother Shark is a lyrical essay that interweaves personal narrative with psychoanalytic and phenomenological theory to explore containment and its failure in the context of miscarriage. Through an unexpected encounter with a dying mother shark on a beach—a phenomenological disruption that externalized interior loss—the essay theorizes interspecies grief, maternal time, and the refusal of consolation, arguing that disruption and violence are not aberrations but constitutive elements of maternal experience.
presentations
Gimeno, R. M. (2026). Cut open: Miscarriage and the (dead) mother shark. Paper presentation (virtual) at the Museum of Motherhood Annual International Academic & Arts Conference, Reproductive Identities & Resistance: Mothers and Others in Culture, Community, and Collaboration.
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2024). Beyond life and eros: An existential-hermeneutic exploration of mortality in Anaïs Nin’s diaries. Paper presented at the 40th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, CAAS, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2023). Unearthing ghosts: Embracing the uncanny and horrifying in grief. Paper presented at the 39th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Il Fuligno – CSF Montedomini, Florence, Italy.
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2022). Wearing the ghost: Death, objects, and adornment. Paper presented at the 38th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, University at Albany, New York, NY. (Conference held online due to COVID-19 pandemic.)
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2021). Pregnancy loss: The trauma of invisibility and the power of symbolization. Paper presented at the 37th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Faculty of Human Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada. (Conference held online due to COVID-19 pandemic.)
Gimeno, R. M. (2020). An empirical-phenomenological study of women’s negative experiences encountering pornographic imagery. Paper accepted for presentation at the Conference of the Society for Qualitative Research in Psychology (SQIP), Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.)
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2019). Crossing the River Styx: Underworld descent and women’s individuation processes. Paper presented at the 36th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna, Austria.
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2017). To love the goddess: Journeys to and from the underworld as expressed in myth, feminine writings, and psychotherapy. Paper presented at the 34th PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Pontificia Facoltà Teologica di Sicilia, Palermo, Italy.
Gimeno, R. M., Vargo, S., Belton, G., & Hershman, C. (2017). Compassionate voices: The transformative power of poetry in the invocation of love, value, and service in a troubled world. Panel discussion presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of the American Psychological Association), Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (June 2016). The image as dream: Reflections on heartbreak, archetypal imagery, and Gustave Moreau’s painting “A Dead Poet Being Carried by a Centaur.” Paper presented at the 33rd PSYART International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France.
Gimeno, R. M. (2015). War on women, war on world: Intersections of environmental degradation, denial of reproductive rights, and destruction of the female body under capitalism. Paper presented at the Ecopsychology Symposium, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2014). Ecofeminism and humanistic psychology. Poster session presented at the APA Convention (Division 35), Washington, DC.
Gimeno, R. M. (2014). Reflections on radical Christianity. Paper presented at the Psychology and Spirituality Symposium, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2012). Torture and the effects on the brain. Poster session presented at PsySR’s 30th Anniversary Conference: The Psychology and the Occupy Movement—Synergies for Social Change, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC.
Gimeno, R. M. (2012). Choosing death: An existential freedom. Poster session presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of the American Psychological Association), Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2010). Liberation theology. Poster session presented at Point Park University’s Human Rights Research Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2010). Jesus as an existential hero: Discourse analysis. Poster session presented at Point Park University’s Undergraduate Conference for the Humanities, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2010). The phenomenology of heartbreak. Poster session presented at Point Park University’s Undergraduate Conference for the Humanities, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2010). Apologizing and embracing: Reflections on Nietzsche’s collapse. Poster session presented at Point Park University’s Undergraduate Conference for the Humanities, Pittsburgh, PA.
Gimeno, R. M. (2010). Apologizing and embracing: Reflections on Nietzsche’s collapse. Paper presented at Duquesne University’s Undergraduate Conference for Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA.
publications
Gimeno, R. (2021). The ghost of a muse: A psychologist’s love of Anaïs Nin [Editorial]. Black Flowers Arts Journal.
teaching positions
past positions
Point Park University, adjunct instructor, Undergraduate Psychology Department
Duquesne University, adjunct instructor Undergraduate Psychology Department