Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh) is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and International and Area Studies. His areas of research are Mexican literary, film and cultural studies; the genealogies of Latin American humanism and the uses of canon theory and world literature theory in Latin American studies. He is the author of El canon y sus formas: La reinvención de Harold Bloom y sus lecturas hispanoamericanas (2002) and Poesía para nada (2005). His most recent book is Naciones intelectuales. Las fundaciones de la modernidad literaria mexicana (1917-1959) (2009), published by Purdue Series in Romance Literatures and Purdue University Press. This book is an intellectual history of the formation of four major literary institutions in Post-Revolutionary Mexico: the concept of “national literature”; the practice of the “literary intellectual;” the country’s academic and editorial infrastucture and the idea of the “Mexican self.” Naciones intelectuales was awarded the LASA Mexico Section's 2010 Humanities Book Prize. Currently, Prof. Sánchez Prado is working on two book projects. The first one, tentatively entitled Mexican film in the age of NAFTA, focuses on the connections of the Mexican film industry and neoliberal ideology. The second one traces alternative literary genealogies in post-1968 fiction and discusses the uses of Western culture against the grain of so-called “World Literature Theory.” A preliminary chapter of this work, entitled “Dying Mirrors, Medieval Moralists and Tristram Shandies: The Literary Genealogies of Fernando del Paso’s Palinuro of Mexico” was published by Comparative Literature in 2008.
Prof. Sánchez Prado has edited five book collections: Alfonso Reyes y los estudios latinoamericanos (with Adela Pineda Franco, 2004), América Latina en la “literatura mundial” (2006), América Latina, Giro óptico (2006), El arte de la ironía. Carlos Monsiváis ante la crítica (with Mabel Moraña, 2007), Arqueologías del centauro. Ensayos sobre Alfonso Reyes (2009) and Entre Hombres. Masculinidades del siglo XIX latinoamericano (with Ana Peluffo, 2010). His work has appeared in many journals, including Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, Colorado Review of Hispanic Studies, Comparative Literature, and Casa de las Américas, amongst others. He also contributes regularly to Mexican literary magazines and media. His article "Claiming Liberalism: Enrique Krauze, Vuelta, Letras Libres and the reconfigurations of the Mexican intellectual class", published by Mexican Studies/ Estudios Mexicanos (26, 1, 2010) was awarded with the Lasa Mexico Section 2010 Humanities essay prize.
Prof. Sánchez Prado’s teaching in Romance Languages is focused on twentieth century Mexican literature and culture, Latin American poetry and Latin American philosophy. In addition, he teaches Survey of Latin American Cultures, Crossing Borders and several classes on cultural studies for the Latin American Studies track of the International Studies Program. He has served as program director for the Summer Programs in Ecuador and Mexico. Currently, he serves as University College Liaison for the Program of International and Area Studies, as member of the university's Fulbright Committee and as Latin American Review Editor for the Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. He is the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Spanish for the 2010-2011 year.
