GUSTAVO HERRERA DIAZ

The Pennsylvania State University

Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

048 Burrowes

University Park, PA, 16802

gxh79@psu.edu

Education

2019-present   Ph.D. Candidate in Latin American Literature |The Pennsylvania State University.

Dissertation title: “Cuando Eshú y Dionisos se encuentran. Mediaciones afrogriegas en Cuba y Brasil”

Committee members: Sarah J. Townsend (director), Judith Sierra-Rivera, Cheryl Sterling, Krista Brune, Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra and Lillian Manzor

The project examines cases of creative interactions between Classic and Afro-Atlantic cosmogonies and systems of mediation in Brazilian and Cuban cultures. Drawing on a multiplicity of sources (ethnographic texts, plays, films, dances), I discuss the media technologies, performance practices, and artifacts involved in these Afro-Greek intersections and their symbolic and material repercussions for questions of identity, race, gender, religion, and human agency. By examining the Africanization of four dominant mythical figures (Dionysius, Orpheus, Medea, and Antigone), the project reconstructs unexplored processes of transculturation in Latin America and illuminates uncharted Afro-Atlantic repertoires from the 1940s to the present.

2019 M.A.        Spanish and Latin American Literature | The Pennsylvania State University.

2009 B.A.        Spanish major and Classical Studies minor| Universidad de La Habana | Summa Cum Laude.

 

Publications

Books

 Actualidad de los clásicos: III Congreso de Filología y Tradición Clásicas Vicentina Antuña in memoriam. Co-edited with Elina Miranda Cancela. Editorial UH, La Habana, 2010, 608 pp.

Peer Reviewed articles

“El ciclo tebano en Doña Perfecta de Galdós. Nuevas máscaras míticas de un héroe liberal.” Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, vol. 99, no. 3, 2022, pp. 239-254.

“Nation and Theater in Crisis: The Intermedial Revolution of Electra Garrigó.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, vol. 55, no. 2, 2021, pp. 421-444.

“Eros y memoria en La noche del Aguafiestas de Antón Arrufat.” Revista Universidad de La Habana, no. 282, 2016, pp. 129-137.

“Mitos clásicos en el teatro del Caribe. Presentación y Renovación de un corpus.” Aletria: Revista de Estudos de Literatura, vol. 24, no. 1, 2014, pp. 81-94.

“Reflexión poética en Luciano de Samosata: de la épica homérica a la narración maravillosa.” Revista Universidad de La Habana, no. 274, 2012, pp. 42-55.

Essays in Books and Edited Collections.

Fernandez Campo, Mariana and Gustavo Herrera Díaz. “Maria Nube. Una traducción cubana de Odysseas Elytis.” Del Pilón: Studi Traduttologici, Linguistici E Letterari Su America Latina E Caraibi, edited by M C. Secci. Cagliari, UNICApress, 2020, pp. 211-226.

“La intertextualidad homérica en Luciano de Samosata.” Actualidad de los clásicos: III Congreso de Filología y Tradición Clásicas Vicentina Antuña in memoriam.  Editorial UH, La Habana, 2010, pp. 149-159

Dossier

“Estudios clásicos en la Universidad de La Habana. Pervivencia y diversidad” Revista Universidad de La Habana, no. 274, 2012, pp. 40-139.

Book Review

“Sobre El cuento fantástico en Cuba y otros estudios, de José Miguel Sardiñas,” La Gaceta de Cuba, no. 5, 2011.

Manuscripts in Preparation

“Exorcising Afro-Cubans: Demonic Possession and Blackness in the works of Morell de Santa Cruz, Fernando Ortiz and Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.”

“Prometeo encadenado de Aravind Adyanthaya. Paradojas puertorriqueñas de la mediación y la escritura teatral.”

“Transgresiones amazónicas. Media, tecnología y chamanismo en El abrazo de la serpiente, de Ciro Guerra.”

 

Conference Papers

“Demonic Possession and the Representation of Blackness in a Cuban Catholic Exorcism”. 45th Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies, on-line via Zoom, 5-9 July 2022.

“Misterios dionisiacos en Fernando Ortiz y Abdías do Nascimento. Del ritual ñáñigo al teatro afrobrasileño”. 46th Annual Caribbean Studies Association Virtual Conference, 30 May – June 3, 2022.

“Prometeo encadenado de Aravind Adyanthaya. Paradojas puertorriqueñas de la mediación y la escritura teatral.” 8th Latin American / Latinx / Theater / Performance Today Festival and Symposium. University of Kansas, April 1-4, 2020 (* Cancelled due to Covid 19).

“Medea cruza la frontera: Teatro latino contemporáneo y tradición clásica.” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference. Washington, DC., March 21-24, 2019.

“De la tragedia griega al reality show: Intermedialidad y mitos griegos en el teatro cubano contemporáneo.” New Directions in Cuban Studies Conference, presented by The Cuban Heritage Collection. University of Miami, July 20th-21st, 2016.

“Reconstrucciones de una identidad diluida. Mito y transgresiones insulares.” XXXIV International Congress of Latin American Studies Association (LASA). New York City, May 22th-24th, 2016.

“Eros y Memoria en La Noche del Aguafiestas de Antón Arrufat.” III encuentro Internacional de Investigación conjunta UAM-Santander con universidades latinoamericanas. La Habana, abril 7-10, 2015.

“Transmutaciones de la identidad y la memoria en La Noche del Aguafiestas, de Antón Arrufat.” XXXII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Chicago, IL, May 21th-24th, 2014.

“Mitos clásicos en el teatro del Caribe. Presentación y Renovación de un corpus.” II Encuentro Internacional del Proyecto UAM-Santander “Mitos clásicos en el teatro iberoamericano actual.” Rio de Janeiro, diciembre, 2012.

“La Intertextualidad homérica en Luciano de Samosata.” III Congreso de Filología y Tradición Clásicas Vicentina Antuña in memoriam. La Habana, 8-12 de diciembre, 2009.

 

Events and Panels Organized and Chaired

Organizer of “(Des)integraciones identitarias y mediáticas en el teatro caribeño contemporáneo”, Panel. 8th Latin American / Latinx / Theater / Performance Today Festival and Symposium. University of Kansas, April 1-4, 2020 (* Cancelled due to Covid 19).

Planning Committee Member of Race in the Americas (RITA), Graduate Student Conference. University Park, The Pennsylvania State University, November 2017.

Chair of “Teatro en diálogo con otros géneros.” Panel, XXXIV International Congress of Latin American Studies Association (LASA). New York City, May 22th-24th, 2016.

Planning Committee Member of III “Congreso de Filología y Tradición Clásicas Vicentina Antuña in memoriam.” La Habana, 8-12 de diciembre, 2009.

 

Teaching Experience

2017-2020      Graduate Teaching Assistant at The Pennsylvania State University.

        • SPAN 355: Race, Religion, and Myth in Latin America (Fall 2022). This course explores the intersection of race, religion, and myth in Latin American history from colonial times until the present. By analyzing various media (i.e., maps, paintings, photographs, comics, literary texts, theater, and cinema), the course addresses the national and social impacts of Indigenous and Afro-Atlantic cultures, religions and cosmogonies across different Latin American territories (Cuba, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, México, Perú, Bolivia, etc.)
        • SPAN 353: Topics in Cultures of Spain (Fall 2020). This is an interactive course using diverse manifestations of Iberian culture in literary texts, works of art, and film as a basis for discussion and writing.
        • SPAN 253W: Introduction to Hispanic Literature (Spring, Summer and Fall of 2019). Survey of Hispanic literature (Spain and America). The course is divided into four parts focusing on poetry, short story, novel, and film. Students learn about contemporary literary trends and theories and use critical thinking techniques to comment on and write about what they read and watch.
        • SPAN 003: Advanced Spanish (Spring 2018, Summer 2018, Fall 2018 and Spring 2020).
        • SPAN 002: Intermediate Spanish (Summer 2020, Summer 2021).

2013-2016       Assistant Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures at Universidad de La Habana.

        • Greek Literature I and II (2015-2016), Roman Literature I (2013-2015), Monographic in Hellenistic Poetry (2013-2015) and Ancient Greek III (2014-2016).

2013-2016       Associated Professor of Greek at Seminario San Carlos y San Ambrosio.

2009-2012       Instructor of Classical Languages and Literatures at Universidad de La Habana.       

        • Greek Culture (2010-2012), Ancient Greek I and II (2010-2013), General Literature I (2009-2012).

2007-2009       Assistant instructor of Spanish Grammar and Latin at Universidad de La Habana.

 

STUDY ABROAD DIRECTION

Summer 2019    Assistant Director and Instructor, Penn State Summer Study Abroad Faculty-Led Program in Puebla, México.

 

Certificates

Essentials of Online Teaching for Graduate Students, Penn State Word Campus, Fall 2021.

Bases para el análisis y tratamiento de la gramática en las clases de ELE, Spring 2015, Universidad de La Habana.

 

Departmental Service

2021-2022       Treasurer, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Graduate Student Organization, Penn State.

2021-Present   Graduate Student Mentor, Dept. of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Penn State.

2018-2020       Graduate TA Substitute, Spanish Basic Language Program (SBLP).

 

Honors, Fellowships, Awards and Grants

2022    Latin American Studies Research and Travel Award, Latin American Studies Program, The Pennsylvania State University.

2021    Predoctoral Fellowships at the Center for Humanities and Information, The Pennsylvania State University.

2021    Certificate of Excellence in Teaching at the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University.

2020    Sparks Fellowship for Graduate Students at the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University.

2019    Graduate Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for the study of Portuguese, United States Department of Education.

2019    LeClaire (Lee) B. Watts Endowed Graduate Scholarship in Romance Languages, The Pennsylvania State University. Awarded by the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese Graduate Committee for scholarly record, accomplishments, and dedication to the program.

2014    LASA Travel Grant to attend the XXII International LASA Congress at Chicago, Illinois.

2012    Winkelmann Institute Grant for travel and research at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

2009    Distinguished as the Best Graduating Student with Outstanding Achievements in Research at Universidad de La Habana.

 

Editorial Experience

2010-2012       Editor at Editorial UH, Universidad de La Habana.

2010-2013       General Editor of Revista Universidad de La Habana.

2015                Editor of Diario del Festival Internacional de Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana.

 

Languages

Spanish: Native language

English: Near-native speaker

Portuguese: Advanced proficiency

Ancient Greek and Latin: Reading proficiency