New Faculty
Why CGU? California was a big draw—I grew up in the Bay Area and have always thought of California as my “tierra natal”—my homeland. I was also excited by CGU’s small scale paired with its cooperative arrangements with the Colleges.
Teaches: My “specialty” in literary and cultural studies is itself a broad, transnational and transdisciplinary field—Hemispheric Americas Studies, which is a comparative analysis of US and Latin American culture and history that shows how those regions’ histories have been intertwined.
Teaching style: I try to be as transparent as possible. As an undergraduate I felt in awe of my professors and never thought I could possibly aspire to be one. Part of the reason was I respected intellectual life so much, but part of that was because some of my professors tried to wow us with the mystique of their knowledge. I try to demystify what I do. That involves explaining where my analytical moves come from. I also lean more heavily toward discussions than toward lectures. Students learn more when they have the opportunity to test their ideas in conversations.
Research: I am working on a translation and critical edition of El Sol de Jesús del Monte, a Cuban antislavery novel written in 1852 by Andrés Avelino de Orihuela, an immigrant to Cuba from the Canary Islands. I am also working on a comparative analysis of representations of slave rebellion in Cuba and the United States, a book called Blazing at Midnight: Slave Rebellion and Social Identity in Cuban and U.S. Culture.
Inspiration: The 99%. The Nation magazine. “War Is Over (If You Want It).” Universal and free health care. The documentary Inside Job (2010), which explains the reasons for the current “Great Recession” and exposes the complicity of certain scholars in the field of economics with the economic meltdown. Immigrants also inspire me. Watch the film Sin Nombre, and you’ll never be the same.
Interests outside his field: Cycling. I ride my bike to work whenever I can. I am also a student of capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that takes years to learn. I am also quite smitten with playing the guitar. I am a rank amateur, but learning the instrument is helping me to adopt an entirely new perspective on American music.
http://
