	Nadiyah Aamer Research Area 20th-21st Century \| Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies \| Immigration/Globalization/Transnationalism/Diasporas \| Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies \| Media/Film/Visual Studies \| Cultural Studies \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, Georgia State University B.A. Spanish, Georgia State University B.A. Psychology, Georgia State University Bio Nadiyah Aamer is a PhD student of Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Studies at the University of Miami. Her main research interests include: U.S. Latino Studies/Literatures, Islam and Muslims in the Contemporary Hispanophone World, Pop Culture Studies, and Immigrant/Diaspora Literatures. She is presently a Dean's Fellow and will be a UGrow Center for the Humanities Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year.
	Mauro Cazzolla Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Gabriel das Chagas Alves Pereira de Souza Research Area Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality \| 20th century \| Black Studies \| Comparative Literature \| American Literature \| Brazilian Literature Degree(s) Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) M.A. Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) B.A. Languages and Literatures - Portuguese and English, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) Bio Gabriel das Chagas Alves Pereira de Souza is a Ph.D. student in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at MLL and a UM Fellow (2021 - 2022). He holds a degree in Portuguese and English from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, RJ, Brazil) and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the same University. In 2020, he received the 1st place for the best master's thesis award in Brazil and is currently concluding his dissertation at UFRJ about Lima Barreto and Langston Hughes. His general research interests are Post-coloniality, Black Studies, Harlem Renaissance, Brazilian modernity and Black Literature of the 20th century in Brazil and in the United States, focused on themes such as slavery, racism, lynching and black codes.
	Lidiana de Moraes dos Santos Dissertation Reclaiming Political Spaces: Black Feminist Insurgencies in Contemporary Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures Research Area Luso-Afro-Brazilian literatures and cultural production \| African Diaspora studies \| Subaltern Studies (with an emphasis on race, gender, and class representations) \| Postcolonialism and Decolonization in the Lusophone World Degree(s) M.A. Language Arts and Literature, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil B.A. Language Arts and Literature, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil B.A. Social Communication: Journalism, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil Bio Lidiana de Moraes is a Ph.D. candidate in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Program at the University of Miami. Her research focuses on postcolonial literary connections among contemporary female writers in Angola, Brazil, and Mozambique. She is currently working on her dissertation, entitled Reclaiming Political Spaces: Black Feminist Insurgencies in Contemporary Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures, where she examines how contemporary African and Afro-Brazilian writers use what Conceição Evaristo has denominated escrevivência (“survival-writing”) to construct a collective, feminist perspective of the Black Atlantic. Lidiana’s scholarship appears in the Journal of Lusophone Studies, Revista Diadorim, and the edited volume, Narrativas del miedo: Terror en obras literarias, cinemáticas y televisivas de Latinoamérica, and has been recognized with a Tinker Summer Research grant and the Santiago Achugar Díaz Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in MLL. Lidiana has held a Fulbright FLTA Fellowship (2014-15), and teaching fellowships from UM’s Institute for the Advanced Study of the Americas (2018-19) and interdisciplinary program in American Studies (2019-20). In addition to Portuguese and Spanish language courses, she has designed and taught upper-division seminars on: “Exploring 20th and 21st Social Movements through Brazilian Music,” and “Cross Sections of US and Brazilian History Through Music.” Dissertation Advisor Dr. Tracy Devine Guzmán
	Rim El Belkacemi Research Area Migration Studies \| Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies \| Critical Race Studies \| Diaspora Studies \| Media/Film/Visual Studies \| Cultural Studies \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree(s) M.A. Communication in Cultural Contexts , Moulay Ismail University, Meknes B.A. Cultural Studies in English, Mohammed V University, Rabat Bio Rim El Belkacemi is a PhD student of Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Studies at the University of Miami. Her main research interests include: Decolonial studies, immigrant/Diaspora studies, Middle eastern and North African Studies/Literatures, Francophone literature, Arab Literature and Urban performance. She is currently a UGrow communication fellow at the Center for the Humanities for the 2020-2021 academic year.
	Diona Espinosa Research Area Cuban and Latin American film studies, contemporary performance arts and transmedia narratives. Degree(s) B.A Journalism, University of Havana PGCE Humanism and Society, Alberto Hurtado University M.A Cultural Studies and Literature University at Albany, SUNY. Grad Ph.D. student University of Miami Bio Diona Espinosa Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. student at the University of Miami. She has been a speaker in the Latin American Studies Association Conference, the Graduate Student Cuban Studies Symposium at Harvard University, and the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies, among other symposia and academic events.
	Marcia Fanti Negri Research Area Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality \| Literary, Theater and Performing Arts \| Gender & Sexuality Studies \| Aesthetics Degree(s) Ph.D Linguistic Studies, UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil M.A. Linguistic Studies, UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil Bio Marcia Fanti Negri is a 2nd year PhD in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at MLL. Her general research interests are Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality; Literary, Theater and Performing Arts; Gender & Sexuality Studies; Aesthetics; Teaching (Portuguese/English) as a Second Language and Teacher Education. Currently she is researching on the Transatlantic Brazil-Spain. She holds a PhD and MA in Linguistic Studies from UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Marcia is very keen on artistic expressions and their educational value to society.
	Monica Faust Research Area Brazilian Modernism \| Poetry \| Translation \| Feminisms \| Critical Race Studies Degree(s) B.A. Spanish, University of Pittsburgh M.A. Spanish, Ohio State University Bio Monica Faust is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate. She holds an B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. in Spanish from The Ohio State University. She taught Spanish and Portuguese language at St. Joseph's University and Eastern University in Philadelphia. Her research interests include: Brazilian Modernism, Poetry, Translation, Feminisms and Critical Race Studies. Before Miami, Monica lived in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil for almost seven years teaching dance, ESL and raising her two boys. She is currently writing her dissertation: "Confederate Self-Fashioning in the Nineteenth-Century Brazil: O caso confederado" which examines the Confederate exodus to Southern Brazil at the end of the U.S. Civil War from a Critical Race perspective.
	Eukene Franco Landa Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Morphosyntax \| Language Sociology Degree(s) B.A. in Basque Studies, University of the Basque Country M.A. in Basque Linguistics and Philology, University of the Basque Country Bio Eukene Franco Landa is a second year PhD student in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. Her research is focused on the morphosyntactic variation of Basque and Spanish of the Basque Country and speakers' attitudes towards the language. She recently defended her Master's dissertation on the developement of number agreement of indefinite quantifiers in Basque. She is a conviced advocate of minority languages and cultures.
	Helen Hernandez Hormilla Research Area Cuban Studies \| Caribbean Studies \| Gender Studies \| Queer Theory \| Cultural Studies \| Immigration, Transnationalism, Diaspora \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree B.A. Journalism, University of Havana Bio Helen Hernández Hormilla is a third-year Ph.D. student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Havana in 2008 with a dissertation about Cuban women’s literature in the last decade of the XX Century. She has worked more than ten years as a journalist and editor in Cuba and the US. As a researcher, she has published the books Palabras sin velo. Entrevistas y cuentos de narradoras cubanas (2013) and Mujeres en crisis. Aproximaciones a lo femenino en las narradoras cubanas de los noventa (Acuario, La Habana, 2011) about Cuban women’s literature. She is interested in the transgressions of gender and sexuality in the transnational space represented by female authors from the Hispanic Caribbean and its diaspora.
	Maytte Hernandez-Lorenzo Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Samuel Johnson Dissertation Research Area Latin American Studies \| Social Movements \| Indigenous Peoples \| Ecocriticism \| Decolonial Studies \| Amazonia Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM M.A. Portuguese, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM M.A. Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM B.A. Spanish and History, Aquinas College Bio Sam is fourth year PhD Student in the Department of Modern Languages in Literatures. He completed his BA at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and his master's degrees at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. While at UNM he taught Spanish as a second language and is teaching Spanish and Portuguese while at the University of Miami. His work examines cultural production and activism combatting ecological crises in Latin America with a focus on the Amazon Rainforest. When not working, he prefers to spend his time outdoors exploring South Florida’s beaches, forests, waterways, and the Everglades. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Tracy Devine Guzmán
	Lydda Lopez Valdez Dissertation Confronting Rurality & Urbanity among Mexican-Origin Spanish speakers in South Florida: towards a sociolinguistics of globalization Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Language & Identity \| Latinx studies \| Spanish & English in the US Degree(s) B.A. Linguistics, Reed College M.A. Linguistics, Florida International University Bio Lydda López Valdez is a PhD candidate (Literary, Cultural & Linguistic Studies) in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at University of Miami. Her work addresses global flows and the mobility of linguistic features across borders and how these relate to issues of identity construction among new Latino communities. Her research contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship that considers the role that linguistic difference plays in the lives of US Latino communities in terms of group identity and social inequality. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Andrew Lynch
	Dainerys Machado Vento Dissertation The International Mediatization of Cuban Literature (2006-2018) Research Area Latin American Literature and Digital Humanities Degree(s) B.A. Journalism, University of Havana M.A. Hispanic American Literature, El Colegio de San Luis, A.C. Mexico Bio Dainerys Machado Vento is a Teaching Assistant and a PhD student in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. Her work has been focused on media and literature, specifically in Latin America and Spain. She is currently working on her dissertation on mediatization of Cuban literature, and writing her second fiction book. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Lillian Manzor
	Yoán Moreno Research Area Literary/Critical Theory \| Continental Philosophy \| Cultural Studies \| Internet/Media Studies \| Rhetoric \| Caribbean Studies \| 20th Century Cuban Literature and Music \| José Lezama Lima \| Afro-Cuban Music \| Black Studies \| African-American Literature \| Africana Studies \| Decolonial Studies Degree(s) M.A. English, Loyola Marymount University B.A. English, Florida International University Bio Yoán Moreno is a PhD student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies. He is a McKnight Fellow (2021-2026) and a Dean’s Fellow (2021-2023). He has participated in the MELUS and ACLA conferences, and has published texts in popular media. His work is primarily focused on generating new, useful/usable concepts (mainly rehearsed in Caribbean texts) for the purposes of increasing critical approaches, and sharpening his pedagogy of Writing and Rhetoric. Prior to joining the program, Yoán taught Writing and Rhetorical Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in addition to working as an independent translator, musician, and Spanish instructor.
	Vijay Navarro Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Marisleydi Ramos Research Area Sociolinguistics, Language in society \| Spanish in the United States \| Dialects in Contact \| Language & Identity \| Heritage Speakers \| Heritage language development Degree(s) B.A in Philology specialized in Hispanic Linguistics, University of Havana M.A in Spanish M.A. with an emphasis in Spanish Applied Language, Culture, and Literature, Florida International University Bio Marisleydi Ramos Borrego is a first-year Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Miami. Her research interests involve the outcomes of frequent contact between Spanish variants and Heritage speakers’ instruction in the United States. She is especially drawn to understanding linguistic selections among different Hispanic groups and the attitudes towards Spanish varieties in Miami-Dade County. She intends to center her research on the relationship between languages, dialects, and identity in said community, mainly in how these factors are involved in Miami’s classrooms.
	Yasamin Rezaei Research Area New Media Studies \| Digital Humanities \| Social Media and Platform Studies \| Theatre and Performance \| Language & Identity (Persian: Iran and Diaspora) \| Electronic Literature \| Cultural Studies Degree(s) B.S. Process Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran M.S. Process Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy Bio Yasamin is a third-year PhD student exploring emerging linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena on social media such as #Instapoetry. She has taught general and business English in Iran, Italy, and Germany for years, has experience teaching French to undergraduate students and has assisted with Italian courses by managing “Italian through theatre” at MLL. Yasamin is the co-founder of Instasociety and a fellow of Digital Humanities at University of Miami for summer 2021. She will be working at the Center for the Humanities at University of Miami as a UGrow fellow in 2021-2022 A.Y. She loves theory and coding on Python, and in her free time, she enjoys dancing, podcasting, blogging, and hosting inspirational interviews to ignite public passion in Arts and Humanities by minimizing the gap between academia and life outside.
	Ernesto Rumbaut Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Savannah Saavedra Research Area 19th- 21st century Latin American Literature \| 20th century Peninsular Literature \| Cultural Studies \| Urban Studies \| Conflict, Violence, and Social Movements \| Foreign Language Pedagogy. Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of Virginia Undergraduate certificate in Spanish English Translation and Interpretation, Virginia Commonwealth University B.A. International Studies (concentration in Latin America), Virginia Commonwealth University B.A. Spanish, Virginia Commonwealth University Bio Savannah Saavedra is a first year PhD student in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies program at the University of Miami. Her research interests include 19th-21st century Latin American Literature, 20th century peninsular literature, cultural studies, urban studies, conflict violence, and social movements, as well as foreign language pedagogy. She is also a Holmes Fellowship recipient from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami.
	Olivier Sales Dissertation 'Tout Niquer Devient Vital’: Rap Mediatizing of French Contemporary Society: Language, Body and the Urban Research Area French & Francophone Studies \| Hip Hop Studies \| Linguistics \| Gender & Sexualities \| Subaltern Studies \| Urban Studies \| Cinematography Degree(s) B.A. Philosophy, Université Grenoble-Alpes B.A. French Language & Literature, Université Grenoble-Alpes M.A. French Language & Literature, Université Grenoble-Alpes Bio Olivier Salès, currently an A.B.D. doctoral candidate in our Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Program, is writing a dissertation entitled ‘Tout Niquer Devient Vital’: Rap Mediatizing of French Contemporary Society: Language, Body and the Urban. His research focuses on French and Francophone Studies in relation to « urban » cultures and contemporary literatures. Previously a certified professor of French language and literature in the Southwest of France, Olivier has taught at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum, including upper-level seminars. Olivier has written articles such as “Les Amérindiens vus par eux-mêmes : vers un dépassement de la littérature identitaire ?”, published in the renown Revue des lettres modernes. He has also delivered many papers in national and international conferences in France, the US and Canada (Urban Fears (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne), Rêver le Nouveau Monde (Université Paris-Sorbonne/Carlton University), NeMLA 2019 & 2020, SWPACA 2020). Olivier is also trained in Cinematography and has worked on projects such as a short movie, music videos, interviews in El Salvador, and a Regional Emmy Awards nominated short documentary (White Noise, 2019). Dissertation Advisor Dr. Ralph Heyndels
	Lourdes Schmader Research Area 19th and 20th century Latin American Literature \| Modern Latin American Literature \| Aesthetics \| Comparative Literature \| Digital Humanities \| Ecuadorian Literature \| Modernismo \| Ecuadorian Pasillo \| Medardo Angel Silva \| Julio Jaramillo\| Poetry\| Theater Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX B.S. in Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly UMUC), Adelphi, MD B.S. in Political Science, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil Law School, Guayaquil, Ecuador Bio Lourdes Schmader is a first year Ph.D. student in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies program at the University of Miami. In 2020 she defended her Master’s dissertation on the Ecuadorian poet, writer, and compositor, Medardo Angel Silva (1898-1919), the nation’s most prominent figure of the Latin American literary movement known as Modernismo. Her investigation analyzed the metaphors, images, and language that Silva employed in his poems to represent the act of taking one’s own life. Her aim was to contribute to a deeper understanding of the poet, whose reception is defined by the popularity of both his tragic biography and Julio Jaramillo’s pasillo––a widely-acclaimed Ecuadorian music genre––inspired by his famous poem “El alma en los labios.” Her research interests include Latin American literatures and cultures with an emphasis on 19th – 21st century Latin American Literature, and its emotional and cultural impressions and influence. She has participated in the Southwest Council of Latin American Studies SCOLAS and the Texas Medieval Association TEMA conferences, and she has taught Spanish I and II courses at Texas State University, Texas Lutheran University and Alamo Colleges, in the San Antonio, Texas Area. She is an advocate for diversity, inclusion, gender equality, and for more opportunities for all people to obtain their education, regardless of their background.
	Nicholas Sheets Dissertation Claiming Cultural Capital for Children in Revolutionary Cuba and Mexico through Print and Performance Research Area 19th Century to Contemporary Mexico and the Caribbean \| Childhood Studies \| Theater Studies \| Issues of Modernity (regarding race, childhood, and gender) \| Performance Studies Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of Kansas B.A. Spanish, Brigham Young University B.A. Theatre Arts Studies, Brigham Young University Bio Dissertation Advisor Dr. Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel
	María Victoria Véliz Dissertation “Silence in Performance Art: Liveness in the Americas in the 21st Century.” (working title) Research Area Performance and Media Studies \| Visual Art Degree B.A. Art History, University of Havana, 1999 Bio María Victoria “Marivi” Véliz (Cuba-E.U) is a doctoral candidate in the Literary, Cultural and Linguistics Studies Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She resided in Guatemala from late 2003 to 2012, where she was teaching, researching, and curating contemporary art, primarily from the Central/Latin American area. Currently, she is working on her dissertation “Silence in Performance Art: Liveness in the Americas in the 21st Century” where she is analyzing silence as a performatic device that enables art and aesthesis. Art is the driving force that moves her to research, to learn and teach while connecting communities and people. Dissertation Advisor Dr. George Yúdice
	Amaia Villaño García Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Bilingualism \| Second Lenguage Acquisition & Teaching Degree(s) M.A. Hispanic Linguistics, University of Illinois at Chicago B.A. Modern Languages, University of Deusto B.A. Education - Primary School Teaching, University of the Basque Country (EHU-UPV) Bio Amaia is a first year PhD in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Her research interests are Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition &Teaching, with special emphasis on the intercultural competence. She is interested in understanding crosslinguistic properties of the morphosyntax of bilingual minds, but also the relationship speakers have towards these languages and the uses they have as a consequence of that.
	Ruming Yang Dissertation Research Area Degree(s) Bio Dissertation Advisor

	Nadiyah Aamer Research Area 20th-21st Century \| Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies \| Immigration/Globalization/Transnationalism/Diasporas \| Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies \| Media/Film/Visual Studies \| Cultural Studies \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, Georgia State University B.A. Spanish, Georgia State University B.A. Psychology, Georgia State University Bio Nadiyah Aamer is a PhD student of Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Studies at the University of Miami. Her main research interests include: U.S. Latino Studies/Literatures, Islam and Muslims in the Contemporary Hispanophone World, Pop Culture Studies, and Immigrant/Diaspora Literatures. She is presently a Dean's Fellow and will be a UGrow Center for the Humanities Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year.
	Mauro Cazzolla Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Gabriel das Chagas Alves Pereira de Souza Research Area Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality \| 20th century \| Black Studies \| Comparative Literature \| American Literature \| Brazilian Literature Degree(s) Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) M.A. Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) B.A. Languages and Literatures - Portuguese and English, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Brazil) Bio Gabriel das Chagas Alves Pereira de Souza is a Ph.D. student in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at MLL and a UM Fellow (2021 - 2022). He holds a degree in Portuguese and English from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, RJ, Brazil) and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the same University. In 2020, he received the 1st place for the best master's thesis award in Brazil and is currently concluding his dissertation at UFRJ about Lima Barreto and Langston Hughes. His general research interests are Post-coloniality, Black Studies, Harlem Renaissance, Brazilian modernity and Black Literature of the 20th century in Brazil and in the United States, focused on themes such as slavery, racism, lynching and black codes.
	Lidiana de Moraes dos Santos Dissertation Reclaiming Political Spaces: Black Feminist Insurgencies in Contemporary Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures Research Area Luso-Afro-Brazilian literatures and cultural production \| African Diaspora studies \| Subaltern Studies (with an emphasis on race, gender, and class representations) \| Postcolonialism and Decolonization in the Lusophone World Degree(s) M.A. Language Arts and Literature, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil B.A. Language Arts and Literature, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil B.A. Social Communication: Journalism, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul – Porto Alegre, Brazil Bio Lidiana de Moraes is a Ph.D. candidate in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Program at the University of Miami. Her research focuses on postcolonial literary connections among contemporary female writers in Angola, Brazil, and Mozambique. She is currently working on her dissertation, entitled Reclaiming Political Spaces: Black Feminist Insurgencies in Contemporary Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures, where she examines how contemporary African and Afro-Brazilian writers use what Conceição Evaristo has denominated escrevivência (“survival-writing”) to construct a collective, feminist perspective of the Black Atlantic. Lidiana’s scholarship appears in the Journal of Lusophone Studies, Revista Diadorim, and the edited volume, Narrativas del miedo: Terror en obras literarias, cinemáticas y televisivas de Latinoamérica, and has been recognized with a Tinker Summer Research grant and the Santiago Achugar Díaz Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in MLL. Lidiana has held a Fulbright FLTA Fellowship (2014-15), and teaching fellowships from UM’s Institute for the Advanced Study of the Americas (2018-19) and interdisciplinary program in American Studies (2019-20). In addition to Portuguese and Spanish language courses, she has designed and taught upper-division seminars on: “Exploring 20th and 21st Social Movements through Brazilian Music,” and “Cross Sections of US and Brazilian History Through Music.” Dissertation Advisor Dr. Tracy Devine Guzmán
	Rim El Belkacemi Research Area Migration Studies \| Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies \| Critical Race Studies \| Diaspora Studies \| Media/Film/Visual Studies \| Cultural Studies \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree(s) M.A. Communication in Cultural Contexts , Moulay Ismail University, Meknes B.A. Cultural Studies in English, Mohammed V University, Rabat Bio Rim El Belkacemi is a PhD student of Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Studies at the University of Miami. Her main research interests include: Decolonial studies, immigrant/Diaspora studies, Middle eastern and North African Studies/Literatures, Francophone literature, Arab Literature and Urban performance. She is currently a UGrow communication fellow at the Center for the Humanities for the 2020-2021 academic year.
	Diona Espinosa Research Area Cuban and Latin American film studies, contemporary performance arts and transmedia narratives. Degree(s) B.A Journalism, University of Havana PGCE Humanism and Society, Alberto Hurtado University M.A Cultural Studies and Literature University at Albany, SUNY. Grad Ph.D. student University of Miami Bio Diona Espinosa Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. student at the University of Miami. She has been a speaker in the Latin American Studies Association Conference, the Graduate Student Cuban Studies Symposium at Harvard University, and the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies, among other symposia and academic events.
	Marcia Fanti Negri Research Area Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality \| Literary, Theater and Performing Arts \| Gender & Sexuality Studies \| Aesthetics Degree(s) Ph.D Linguistic Studies, UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil M.A. Linguistic Studies, UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil Bio Marcia Fanti Negri is a 2nd year PhD in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at MLL. Her general research interests are Cultural Studies and Post-coloniality; Literary, Theater and Performing Arts; Gender & Sexuality Studies; Aesthetics; Teaching (Portuguese/English) as a Second Language and Teacher Education. Currently she is researching on the Transatlantic Brazil-Spain. She holds a PhD and MA in Linguistic Studies from UniversidadeFederal de São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Marcia is very keen on artistic expressions and their educational value to society.
	Monica Faust Research Area Brazilian Modernism \| Poetry \| Translation \| Feminisms \| Critical Race Studies Degree(s) B.A. Spanish, University of Pittsburgh M.A. Spanish, Ohio State University Bio Monica Faust is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate. She holds an B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. in Spanish from The Ohio State University. She taught Spanish and Portuguese language at St. Joseph's University and Eastern University in Philadelphia. Her research interests include: Brazilian Modernism, Poetry, Translation, Feminisms and Critical Race Studies. Before Miami, Monica lived in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil for almost seven years teaching dance, ESL and raising her two boys. She is currently writing her dissertation: "Confederate Self-Fashioning in the Nineteenth-Century Brazil: O caso confederado" which examines the Confederate exodus to Southern Brazil at the end of the U.S. Civil War from a Critical Race perspective.
	Eukene Franco Landa Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Morphosyntax \| Language Sociology Degree(s) B.A. in Basque Studies, University of the Basque Country M.A. in Basque Linguistics and Philology, University of the Basque Country Bio Eukene Franco Landa is a second year PhD student in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. Her research is focused on the morphosyntactic variation of Basque and Spanish of the Basque Country and speakers' attitudes towards the language. She recently defended her Master's dissertation on the developement of number agreement of indefinite quantifiers in Basque. She is a conviced advocate of minority languages and cultures.
	Helen Hernandez Hormilla Research Area Cuban Studies \| Caribbean Studies \| Gender Studies \| Queer Theory \| Cultural Studies \| Immigration, Transnationalism, Diaspora \| Literary and Critical Theory Degree B.A. Journalism, University of Havana Bio Helen Hernández Hormilla is a third-year Ph.D. student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Havana in 2008 with a dissertation about Cuban women’s literature in the last decade of the XX Century. She has worked more than ten years as a journalist and editor in Cuba and the US. As a researcher, she has published the books Palabras sin velo. Entrevistas y cuentos de narradoras cubanas (2013) and Mujeres en crisis. Aproximaciones a lo femenino en las narradoras cubanas de los noventa (Acuario, La Habana, 2011) about Cuban women’s literature. She is interested in the transgressions of gender and sexuality in the transnational space represented by female authors from the Hispanic Caribbean and its diaspora.
	Maytte Hernandez-Lorenzo Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Samuel Johnson Dissertation Research Area Latin American Studies \| Social Movements \| Indigenous Peoples \| Ecocriticism \| Decolonial Studies \| Amazonia Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM M.A. Portuguese, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM M.A. Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico - Albuquerque, NM B.A. Spanish and History, Aquinas College Bio Sam is fourth year PhD Student in the Department of Modern Languages in Literatures. He completed his BA at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI and his master's degrees at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. While at UNM he taught Spanish as a second language and is teaching Spanish and Portuguese while at the University of Miami. His work examines cultural production and activism combatting ecological crises in Latin America with a focus on the Amazon Rainforest. When not working, he prefers to spend his time outdoors exploring South Florida’s beaches, forests, waterways, and the Everglades. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Tracy Devine Guzmán
	Lydda Lopez Valdez Dissertation Confronting Rurality & Urbanity among Mexican-Origin Spanish speakers in South Florida: towards a sociolinguistics of globalization Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Language & Identity \| Latinx studies \| Spanish & English in the US Degree(s) B.A. Linguistics, Reed College M.A. Linguistics, Florida International University Bio Lydda López Valdez is a PhD candidate (Literary, Cultural & Linguistic Studies) in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at University of Miami. Her work addresses global flows and the mobility of linguistic features across borders and how these relate to issues of identity construction among new Latino communities. Her research contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship that considers the role that linguistic difference plays in the lives of US Latino communities in terms of group identity and social inequality. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Andrew Lynch
	Dainerys Machado Vento Dissertation The International Mediatization of Cuban Literature (2006-2018) Research Area Latin American Literature and Digital Humanities Degree(s) B.A. Journalism, University of Havana M.A. Hispanic American Literature, El Colegio de San Luis, A.C. Mexico Bio Dainerys Machado Vento is a Teaching Assistant and a PhD student in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. Her work has been focused on media and literature, specifically in Latin America and Spain. She is currently working on her dissertation on mediatization of Cuban literature, and writing her second fiction book. Dissertation Advisor Dr. Lillian Manzor
	Yoán Moreno Research Area Literary/Critical Theory \| Continental Philosophy \| Cultural Studies \| Internet/Media Studies \| Rhetoric \| Caribbean Studies \| 20th Century Cuban Literature and Music \| José Lezama Lima \| Afro-Cuban Music \| Black Studies \| African-American Literature \| Africana Studies \| Decolonial Studies Degree(s) M.A. English, Loyola Marymount University B.A. English, Florida International University Bio Yoán Moreno is a PhD student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies. He is a McKnight Fellow (2021-2026) and a Dean’s Fellow (2021-2023). He has participated in the MELUS and ACLA conferences, and has published texts in popular media. His work is primarily focused on generating new, useful/usable concepts (mainly rehearsed in Caribbean texts) for the purposes of increasing critical approaches, and sharpening his pedagogy of Writing and Rhetoric. Prior to joining the program, Yoán taught Writing and Rhetorical Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in addition to working as an independent translator, musician, and Spanish instructor.
	Vijay Navarro Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Marisleydi Ramos Research Area Sociolinguistics, Language in society \| Spanish in the United States \| Dialects in Contact \| Language & Identity \| Heritage Speakers \| Heritage language development Degree(s) B.A in Philology specialized in Hispanic Linguistics, University of Havana M.A in Spanish M.A. with an emphasis in Spanish Applied Language, Culture, and Literature, Florida International University Bio Marisleydi Ramos Borrego is a first-year Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Miami. Her research interests involve the outcomes of frequent contact between Spanish variants and Heritage speakers’ instruction in the United States. She is especially drawn to understanding linguistic selections among different Hispanic groups and the attitudes towards Spanish varieties in Miami-Dade County. She intends to center her research on the relationship between languages, dialects, and identity in said community, mainly in how these factors are involved in Miami’s classrooms.
	Yasamin Rezaei Research Area New Media Studies \| Digital Humanities \| Social Media and Platform Studies \| Theatre and Performance \| Language & Identity (Persian: Iran and Diaspora) \| Electronic Literature \| Cultural Studies Degree(s) B.S. Process Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran M.S. Process Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy Bio Yasamin is a third-year PhD student exploring emerging linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena on social media such as #Instapoetry. She has taught general and business English in Iran, Italy, and Germany for years, has experience teaching French to undergraduate students and has assisted with Italian courses by managing “Italian through theatre” at MLL. Yasamin is the co-founder of Instasociety and a fellow of Digital Humanities at University of Miami for summer 2021. She will be working at the Center for the Humanities at University of Miami as a UGrow fellow in 2021-2022 A.Y. She loves theory and coding on Python, and in her free time, she enjoys dancing, podcasting, blogging, and hosting inspirational interviews to ignite public passion in Arts and Humanities by minimizing the gap between academia and life outside.
	Ernesto Rumbaut Research Area Degree(s) Bio
	Savannah Saavedra Research Area 19th- 21st century Latin American Literature \| 20th century Peninsular Literature \| Cultural Studies \| Urban Studies \| Conflict, Violence, and Social Movements \| Foreign Language Pedagogy. Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of Virginia Undergraduate certificate in Spanish English Translation and Interpretation, Virginia Commonwealth University B.A. International Studies (concentration in Latin America), Virginia Commonwealth University B.A. Spanish, Virginia Commonwealth University Bio Savannah Saavedra is a first year PhD student in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies program at the University of Miami. Her research interests include 19th-21st century Latin American Literature, 20th century peninsular literature, cultural studies, urban studies, conflict violence, and social movements, as well as foreign language pedagogy. She is also a Holmes Fellowship recipient from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami.
	Olivier Sales Dissertation 'Tout Niquer Devient Vital’: Rap Mediatizing of French Contemporary Society: Language, Body and the Urban Research Area French & Francophone Studies \| Hip Hop Studies \| Linguistics \| Gender & Sexualities \| Subaltern Studies \| Urban Studies \| Cinematography Degree(s) B.A. Philosophy, Université Grenoble-Alpes B.A. French Language & Literature, Université Grenoble-Alpes M.A. French Language & Literature, Université Grenoble-Alpes Bio Olivier Salès, currently an A.B.D. doctoral candidate in our Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Program, is writing a dissertation entitled ‘Tout Niquer Devient Vital’: Rap Mediatizing of French Contemporary Society: Language, Body and the Urban. His research focuses on French and Francophone Studies in relation to « urban » cultures and contemporary literatures. Previously a certified professor of French language and literature in the Southwest of France, Olivier has taught at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum, including upper-level seminars. Olivier has written articles such as “Les Amérindiens vus par eux-mêmes : vers un dépassement de la littérature identitaire ?”, published in the renown Revue des lettres modernes. He has also delivered many papers in national and international conferences in France, the US and Canada (Urban Fears (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne), Rêver le Nouveau Monde (Université Paris-Sorbonne/Carlton University), NeMLA 2019 & 2020, SWPACA 2020). Olivier is also trained in Cinematography and has worked on projects such as a short movie, music videos, interviews in El Salvador, and a Regional Emmy Awards nominated short documentary (White Noise, 2019). Dissertation Advisor Dr. Ralph Heyndels
	Lourdes Schmader Research Area 19th and 20th century Latin American Literature \| Modern Latin American Literature \| Aesthetics \| Comparative Literature \| Digital Humanities \| Ecuadorian Literature \| Modernismo \| Ecuadorian Pasillo \| Medardo Angel Silva \| Julio Jaramillo\| Poetry\| Theater Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX B.S. in Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly UMUC), Adelphi, MD B.S. in Political Science, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil Law School, Guayaquil, Ecuador Bio Lourdes Schmader is a first year Ph.D. student in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies program at the University of Miami. In 2020 she defended her Master’s dissertation on the Ecuadorian poet, writer, and compositor, Medardo Angel Silva (1898-1919), the nation’s most prominent figure of the Latin American literary movement known as Modernismo. Her investigation analyzed the metaphors, images, and language that Silva employed in his poems to represent the act of taking one’s own life. Her aim was to contribute to a deeper understanding of the poet, whose reception is defined by the popularity of both his tragic biography and Julio Jaramillo’s pasillo––a widely-acclaimed Ecuadorian music genre––inspired by his famous poem “El alma en los labios.” Her research interests include Latin American literatures and cultures with an emphasis on 19th – 21st century Latin American Literature, and its emotional and cultural impressions and influence. She has participated in the Southwest Council of Latin American Studies SCOLAS and the Texas Medieval Association TEMA conferences, and she has taught Spanish I and II courses at Texas State University, Texas Lutheran University and Alamo Colleges, in the San Antonio, Texas Area. She is an advocate for diversity, inclusion, gender equality, and for more opportunities for all people to obtain their education, regardless of their background.
	Nicholas Sheets Dissertation Claiming Cultural Capital for Children in Revolutionary Cuba and Mexico through Print and Performance Research Area 19th Century to Contemporary Mexico and the Caribbean \| Childhood Studies \| Theater Studies \| Issues of Modernity (regarding race, childhood, and gender) \| Performance Studies Degree(s) M.A. Spanish, University of Kansas B.A. Spanish, Brigham Young University B.A. Theatre Arts Studies, Brigham Young University Bio Dissertation Advisor Dr. Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel
	María Victoria Véliz Dissertation “Silence in Performance Art: Liveness in the Americas in the 21st Century.” (working title) Research Area Performance and Media Studies \| Visual Art Degree B.A. Art History, University of Havana, 1999 Bio María Victoria “Marivi” Véliz (Cuba-E.U) is a doctoral candidate in the Literary, Cultural and Linguistics Studies Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She resided in Guatemala from late 2003 to 2012, where she was teaching, researching, and curating contemporary art, primarily from the Central/Latin American area. Currently, she is working on her dissertation “Silence in Performance Art: Liveness in the Americas in the 21st Century” where she is analyzing silence as a performatic device that enables art and aesthesis. Art is the driving force that moves her to research, to learn and teach while connecting communities and people. Dissertation Advisor Dr. George Yúdice
	Amaia Villaño García Research Area Sociolinguistics \| Bilingualism \| Second Lenguage Acquisition & Teaching Degree(s) M.A. Hispanic Linguistics, University of Illinois at Chicago B.A. Modern Languages, University of Deusto B.A. Education - Primary School Teaching, University of the Basque Country (EHU-UPV) Bio Amaia is a first year PhD in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Her research interests are Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition &Teaching, with special emphasis on the intercultural competence. She is interested in understanding crosslinguistic properties of the morphosyntax of bilingual minds, but also the relationship speakers have towards these languages and the uses they have as a consequence of that.
	Ruming Yang Dissertation Research Area Degree(s) Bio Dissertation Advisor

Nadiyah Aamer

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Mauro Cazzolla

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Gabriel das Chagas Alves Pereira de Souza

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Lidiana de Moraes dos Santos

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Rim El Belkacemi

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Diona Espinosa

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Marcia Fanti Negri

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Monica Faust

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Eukene Franco Landa

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Helen Hernandez Hormilla

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Maytte Hernandez-Lorenzo

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Samuel Johnson

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Lydda Lopez Valdez

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Dainerys Machado Vento

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Yoán Moreno

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Vijay Navarro

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Marisleydi Ramos

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Yasamin Rezaei

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