I am an Associate Professor of Spanish and a Fellow at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC). As a colonialist specializing in the Northern Andes, my most productive area of research is epic and heroic poetry. As a critic attentive to Renaissance theory of poetic imitation, in my study Authority, Piracy and Captivity in Colonial Spanish America: Juan de Castellanos’ Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies, I examined the intersection between social class, literary taste and political dissent in Castellanos’ writings. I am the co-editor of a volume of essays titled The War Trumpet: Iberian Epic Poetry, 1543 – 1639 (University of Toronto Press 2023); as well as the co-editor of La Araucana (1569 – 2019) a special issue of Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos (2022). I have published scholarly articles in Calíope: Journal of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, and Cuadernos de Literatura. In 2013, I collaborated with Emelie Chhangur, Assistant Director of the Art Gallery of York University, in preparing a bilingual (Spanish / English) catalogue for the art exhibit Imaginary Homelands (London: AGYU / Black Dog Publishing, 2015).

I’m currently working on a monograph about the use of visual imagery, memory and history in the short stories and novels by Roberto Burgos Cantor (Colombia 1948 - 2018), a critical edition of the written report presented by indigenous chieftain Diego de Torres to King Philip II of Spain in 1586, and a study of the material culture of the viceroyalty of New Granada during the colonial period. My research has been supported by the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (UofT), the John Carter Brown Library, and the Newberry Library. At York University, I teach courses on Spanish-American Modernismo, Hispanic Caribbean Literature, Sixteenth century Iberian heroic poetry, and Spanish language courses.

Research Interests

Current Research Projects

I am an Associate Professor of Spanish and a Fellow at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC). As a colonialist specializing in the Northern Andes, my most productive area of research is epic and heroic poetry. As a critic attentive to Renaissance theory of poetic imitation, in my study Authority, Piracy and Captivity in Colonial Spanish America: Juan de Castellanos’ Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies, I examined the intersection between social class, literary taste and political dissent in Castellanos’ writings. I am the co-editor of a volume of essays titled The War Trumpet: Iberian Epic Poetry, 1543 – 1639 (University of Toronto Press 2023); as well as the co-editor of La Araucana (1569 – 2019) a special issue of Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos (2022). I have published scholarly articles in Calíope: Journal of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, and Cuadernos de Literatura. In 2013, I collaborated with Emelie Chhangur, Assistant Director of the Art Gallery of York University, in preparing a bilingual (Spanish / English) catalogue for the art exhibit Imaginary Homelands (London: AGYU / Black Dog Publishing, 2015).

I’m currently working on a monograph about the use of visual imagery, memory and history in the short stories and novels by Roberto Burgos Cantor (Colombia 1948 - 2018), a critical edition of the written report presented by indigenous chieftain Diego de Torres to King Philip II of Spain in 1586, and a study of the material culture of the viceroyalty of New Granada during the colonial period. My research has been supported by the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies (UofT), the John Carter Brown Library, and the Newberry Library. At York University, I teach courses on Spanish-American Modernismo, Hispanic Caribbean Literature, Sixteenth century Iberian heroic poetry, and Spanish language courses.

Degrees

Research Interests