RLL invites applications for Assistant Professor of Latinx Studies

The Department of Romance Languages & Literatures (RLL) at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Latinx Studies to begin in fall semester 2022.

RLL Graduate Students Summer Fellowships with The Divided City

Congratulations to our RLL graduate students on their Graduate Summer Research Fellowship with the Divided City.

Published article by Soledad Mocchi-Radichi, a Ph.D. candidate in our Hispanic Studies program

Soledad Mocchi-Radichi, a Ph.D. candidate in our Hispanic Studies program publishes an article in the journal, Latin American Theatre Review.

Prof. Acree featured on podcast about his book, Staging Frontiers: the making of modern popular culture in Argentina and Uruguay

Prof. Acree featured on podcast about his book, Staging Frontiers. The Making of Modern Popular Culture in Argentina and Uruguay.

Prof. Moraña publishes two new books: Pensar el cuerpo Historia, materialidad y símbolo and Líneas de fuga ciudadanía, frontera y sujeto migrante

Two new publications by Prof. Moraña, Professor of Spanish and Program Director of Latin American Studies and William H. Gass Professor in Arts and Sciences

Hostile Terrain 94 in review

This booklet tells the story of bringing the Hostile Terrain 94 exhibit to our city of St. Louis. Just as the exhibit itself is a memorial for those who have lost their lives unnecessarily in the U.S.-México borderlands, this booklet is a memorial to the work of communities who fight for justice and human dignity in our world today. We hope that this document inspires the continuation of such work long after the exhibit itself is no longer in St. Louis.

Assistant Professor Miguel Valerio selected as 2021 Career Enhancement Fellows at The Institute for Citizens & Scholars

Publication of Liquid borders: migration as resistance

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Latin American Studies Program congratulates Professor Mabel Moraña latest publication, Liquid Borders migration as resistance with Routledge.

Professor Michael Sherberg publishes The Decameron Fourth Day in Perspective

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Professor Sherberg on the publication of his book, The Decameron fourth day in perspective with the University of Toronto Press.

Graduate Fellow Olivia Lott lauded with PEN translation honor

PhD candidate Olivia Lott was named as a finalist for a prominent literary award, the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. In this Q&A, Lott talks about the process of bringing ‘Katabasis’ to new audiences, about her reaction to the PEN shout-out, and for her recommendations of additional must-read translated poetry books.

Professor Tili Boon Cuillé publishes Divining Nature: Aesthetics of Enchantment in Enlightenment France

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature Tili Boon Cuillé on the publication of her new book, Divining Nature: Aesthetics of Enchantment in Enlightenment France with Stanford University Press.

Prof. Ignacio Infante Receives Emerson's 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature Ignacio Infante on his selection as one of Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award recipients. The Emerson Excellence in Teaching Awards Program, now in its 31st year, recognizes approximately 100 educators in the St. Louis metropolitan area annually for their leadership in and passion for teaching, their contributions to student learning, and their knowledge and creativity.

Professor Rebecca Messbarger wins the Rome Prize Fellowship in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

The department extends a huge congratulations to Professor of Italian Rebecca Messbarger, who is the recipient of a Rome Prize fellowship in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies from the American Academy in Rome (AAR).

Publication of Mabel Moraña's Philosophy and Criticism in Latin America: From Mariátegui to Sloterdijk

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Latin American Studies Program congratulates Professor Mabel Moraña on the publication of her new book, Philosophy and Criticism in Latin America: From Mariátegui to Sloterdijk, as part of the Cambria Latin American Literatures and Cultures Series with Cambria Press.

On Race, Colonialism, and Falling Monuments in Spain and the US, By Professor Akiko Tsuchiya

On June 4, 2020, the governor of Virginia ordered the removal of Richmond’s monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, amidst demonstrations across the country against police brutality and systemic racism. His announcement provided a renewed momentum, among racial justice activists, to demand the elimination of all public symbols of white supremacy. Other cities across the nation soon followed suit, ordering the dismantling of Confederate statues, even as protesters, in many places, took the lead in toppling these monuments.

Juan Manuel Ramírez Velázquez Wins Research Fellowship at the University of Tulsa

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Hispanic Studies graduate student Juan Manuel Ramírez Velázquez on winning a 2020-2021 Short-Time research fellowship at the Helmerich Center for American Research at the University of Tulsa.

Hispanic Studies PhD Student Emma Merrigan Awarded Two Fellowships for Summer and Fall 2020

Fourth-year Hispanic Studies graduate student Emma Merrigan has received both a Divided City Graduate Summer Research Fellowship and a Graduate Student Fellowship in residence at the Washington University Center for the Humanities, for the Summer and Fall 2020 semesters, respectively. 

A Statement on the Value of the Humanities in Times of Crisis

The chairs and directors of Humanities departments and programs at Washington University in St. Louis have prepared a statement on the value of the humanities in times of crisis. In times of severe challenges, it is crucial that we avail ourselves of the invaluable resources that humanities scholarship and education offer. The full statement has now been posted on our departmental blog.

New RLL blog!

Check out our new departmental blog for updates on COVID-19 and other topics. It's a great way to connect with faculty over the summer: https://sites.wustl.edu/rllwustl/home/

Professor William Acree wins LASA 2020 Best Book Award

It is our distinct pleasure to announce that a jury composed by Agnes Lugo-Ortiz (University of Chicago), Shelley Garrigan (NC State University), and Michel Gobat (University of Pittsburgh) have selected two wonderful new monographs to receive the LASA 2020-BEST BOOK AWARD IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Professor Ignacio Infante Publishes a Translation of Vicente Huidobro's Temblor del cielo

Please join the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures in congratulating Professor Ignacio Infante on the publication of his new book, a groundbreaking translation of Vicente Huidobro’s Temblor del cielo, available now.

Professor Michael Sherberg Offers Some Coronavirus Lessons From Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece, the “Decameron,” is set on the outskirts of Florence in 1348. His protagonists have retreated to the countryside in the wake of the Black Death, which is decimating their city both mortally and socially. The book offers important lessons as we confront the global threat of Coronavirus.

Professor Rebecca Messbarger Explains What A 14th-Century Italian Novel Teaches Us About Social Distancing

When a plague swept 14th-century Florence, killing more than half the city’s population, wealthy Italians turned to social distancing. One small group’s retreat from a stricken city to a deserted villa became the backdrop for the classic novel “The Decameron.” That novel is just one of the texts Rebecca Messbarger teaches in her Disease, Madness and Death Italian Style course at Washington University. But it has sudden resonance, she says — and relevance she never anticipated when she began teaching it a year ago.

Academe’s Shameful Neglect of Spanish, By Professor Ignacio Sánchez Prado

Researchers and students engaging with the U.S.’s second-largest language are ignored in our universities — and in ‘The Chronicle’

Changing Narratives: WU Professor Ignacio Sánchez Prado Named Library of Congress Kluge Chair

Sitting down in his office lined with thousands of books and a new Keurig, Professor Ignacio Sánchez Prado, who teaches Mexican cinema, literature and culture at Washington University, divulged his life’s story, his work over the years which culminated in his appointment to the Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress.

A War With Words: How Spain’s Women Lobbied Against Slavery in Cuba

Interview with Faculty Fellow Akiko Tsuchiya

Professor Harriet Stone publishes new book, Crowning Glories: Netherlandish Realism and the French Imagination during the Reign of Louis XIV

Please join us in congratulating Professor of French Harriet Stone on the publication of her new book, Crowning Glories: Netherlandish Realism and the French Imagination during the Reign of Louis XIV.

Prof. Sánchez Prado Installed as Jarvis Thurston & Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Professor Ignacio Sánchez Prado on his recent installation as the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities.

Publication of Staging Frontiers by Professor William Acree.

Swashbuckling tales of valiant gauchos roaming Argentina and Uruguay were nineteenth-century bestsellers. But when these stories jumped from the page to the circus stage and beyond, their cultural, economic, and political influence revolutionized popular culture and daily life.

Prof. Akiko Tsuchiya Awarded the NEH Summer Stipend

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Professor of Spanish Akiko Tsuchiya, the recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend for her project, “Spanish Women of Letters in the Nineteenth-century Antislavery Movement: Transnational Networks and Exchanges.”

Congratulations to Javier García-Liendo

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Javier García-Liendo on his promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure.

Publication of Representing Mental Illness in Late Medieval France. Machines, Madness, Metaphor, by Professor Julie Singer

The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures congratulates Associate Professor of French Julie Singer on the publication of her book, Representing Mental Illness in Late Medieval France. Machines, Madness, Metaphor.

Literatura en los Siglos XIX y XX, Antonio Saborit, Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado y Jorge Ortega (coordinadores)