Rose Flaure Accilien

Research Area 

Sociolinguistics | Critical Language Studies | Post-colonial & Decolonial Studies | Caribbean & Diaspora Studies | Language Insecurity | Disaster Linguicism | Multilingualism | Linguistic Trauma | Creolization | Digital Language Acquisition

Degree(s)

Bio

Rose F. Accilien is a PhD candidate in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies program in the Department of Modern Languages. She is especially interested in researching how migration from natural disasters, gang violence and climate change have all impacted a shift in linguistic identities throughout the Caribbean. Rose is also involved in promoting language equity and L1 language re-acquisition in the diaspora. She is continuously seeking opportunities to collaborate with fellow researchers in all her research areas.

Recent Publications

Albin Aichberger

Research Area 

Languages in Contact and Contrast | Spanish-German, Creoles, and Endangered Languages | Sociolinguistics | Computational Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics | Natural Language Processing | Artificial Intelligence | Morphosyntax | Semantics | Teaching Methodologies

Degree(s)

Bio

Albin Aichberger (he/him) hails from Austria and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Miami in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies, with concentrations in Caribbean Studies, Digital Humanities, and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching.

His research focuses on Languages in Contact and Contrast, with a particular emphasis on Spanish-German, Creoles, and Endangered Languages. His interdisciplinary approach combines Sociolinguistics with methods from Computational Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Natural Language Processing, and Artificial Intelligence. Within these areas, he further investigates Morphosyntax, Semantics, and Teaching Methodologies.

Drawing on years of language teaching and testing experience, Albin has taught at the university level in Puerto Rico and contributed to migration projects in Austria and the Canary Islands. He holds an M.A. from both the Universität Graz, Austria, and the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. He also completed exchange studies at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain, and the Universidad de Puerto Rico. In 2024, he was awarded the UM Fellowship.

Recent Publications

Monica Baro Sanchez

Research Area 

Natural Disasters | Housing Problems | Human Rights | Investigative and Literary Journalism | Agrocology | Gender Violence

Degree(s)

Bio

Mónica Baró Sánchez is a Cuban independent journalist born in Havana in 1988. She graduated from Havana University with a degree in Journalism in 2012. In 2015, she co-founded Periodismo de Barrio, an independent digital magazine focused on environmental issues, and was part of its Editorial Board. During her three years at Periodismo de Barrio, she covered topics such as vulnerable communities, natural disasters, housing problems, pollution, agroecology, droughts, and lead poisoning, specializing in investigative and literary journalism.

In 2016, her story "La mudanza" (The Displacement), which detailed the displacement of a vulnerable community in Santiago de Cuba, was named one of the three finalists for the Gabriel García Márquez Journalism Award, organized by the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Iberoamerican Journalism. In 2018, she began collaborating with the independent digital magazine El Estornudo, and by January 2019, she joined its reporting team in Cuba. Her writings have also addressed issues such as gender violence, exile, and human rights.

In 2019, her piece "La sangre nunca fue amarilla" (Blood Was Never Yellow), investigating lead poisoning, won the Gabriel García Márquez Journalism Award in the text category. Due to her work as an independent journalist and her activism in defense of human rights, she left Cuba in January 2021 and sought asylum in Spain.

In September 2022, she enrolled in the Master's Program on Literary Reportage at New York University, completing her studies in 2024. 

Recent Publications

Carolina Barrero Ferrer

Research Area 

Degree(s)

Bio

 Carolina is a human rights defender, author, and political leader whose work sits at the intersection of humanities, cultural studies, democratic theory, civic resistance, and international human rights law. Her intellectual formation bridges art, philosophy, poetry, and political thought, offering a distinctive perspective on the cultural and historical forces shaping democratic struggle. Carolina emerged as a prominent voice during Cuba's 2021 nationwide protests, where she played a visible role in articulating demands for democratic reform. Her activism resulted in repeated detentions, prolonged house arrest, and eventual forced exile in February 2022. Since then, she has continued her work in exile, supporting independent civic networks on the island and engaging international institutions on systemic repression in authoritarian contexts. Her research focuses on the legal and institutional mechanisms used to suppress independent association in closed regimes, with particular attention to comparative constitutional and administrative frameworks. She regularly engages with policymakers, scholars, and multilateral bodies, and has presented her work at leading global forums including the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, the Human Rights Watch Annual Council, and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

Jacob Dennis

Research Area 

Cultural Studies | Black Feminisms | Indigenous Studies | Queer Studies | Decoloniality | Marxism | Critical Race and Ethnic Studies | Comparative Literature | Critical Geographies | Ecocriticism | Diaspora Studies | Critical Refugee Studies | Digital Humanities | Second Language Pedagogy | Language Policy

Degree(s)

Bio

Jacob Dennis (they/them) is a first-year PhD student of Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. Jacob completed their undergraduate studies in French, Mathematics and Spanish, and they hold a master’s degree in applied (French) linguistics. Jacob’s research focuses broadly on studies of the francophone and hispanic Caribbean-Americas with specific interests in anticolonial and decolonial movements, histories and thought.

Recent Publications

Catheline Théodora Desire 

Research Area 

Cultural Studies | Caribbean Studies | Haitian Studies | Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies | Languages in the Caribbean | Language Policy | Sociolinguistics

Degree(s)

Bio

Catheline Desire is a Ph.D. student of Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She was born and raised in Haïti and went to college in France. She earned a double degree in literature and law in Limoges, France, and pursued a master's in language didactics at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, France. Her research focuses on sociolinguistics, linguistic interaction in the Caribbean, and identity through language and culture. Catheline is passionate about languages, decolonial studies, politics, and feminism. She is fluent in Haitian Creole, French, and English and looks forward to improving her Spanish. Catheline has experience teaching French in France and the United States of America. Outside of school, Catheline loves trying new restaurants, traveling, and spending time with her family. She also likes to walk Freddie, her beautiful dog.

Recent Publications

Maytte Hernandez-Lorenzo

Email

mxh1512@miami.edu

Research Area 

Theater | Performance Studies | Cultural Policy | Latin American Literature | Caribbean Studies

Degree(s)

B.A. in Journalism, Havana University, Cuba

Bio

Maytte Hernández Lorenzo (also Maité Hernández-Lorenzo) is a fourth-year doctoral student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies in the MLL Department at the University of Miami. She is a researcher, critic, and theater promotor, and has collaborated on theatrical projects in Cuba, the United States, and Denmark. She was awarded a scholarship by l’Observatoire des politiques culturelles de Grenoble (France, 1997). She has participated in several Latin American Studies Association (LASA) conferences over the past two decades. She has served as a juror for the 11th Woman Playwrights International Conference Chile (2018) and the12th Women Playwrights International Conference Montréal (virtual, 2021).

She has published as a journalist and researcher in journals in Cuba, the United States, and Mexico. She is co-author of Antología de Teatro Alemán (Ediciones Alarcos, 2008) and Vicente Revuelta: monólogo (Ediciones Mecenas, 1999; Ediciones Tablas-Alarcos, 2019 and 2021). She is the author of the story collections Las memorias vacías de Solange Bañuelos (Ediciones Vigía, 2014), Las memorias vacías de Solange Bañuelos y otros cuentos (Ediciones Matanzas, 2018, Premio Puerta de Papel, Havana), and Viaje al interior (Ediciones Unasletras, 2021). She has received the Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowship (Pre-prospectus, 2023), UMIA Field Research Grant (2024) and the Doctoral Archival and Specialized Research Awards (2024).

Recent Publications

Linet Hernandez-Moredo

Research Area 

Latin American Literature | Feminist Theories | Feminist Literary Criticism | Caribbean Aesthetics and Literary Criticism | Women’s Ethical and Aesthetic Thought | Sympathy | Languages & Ideologies

Degree(s)

Bio

She is the author of the book El arte de sentir. Varona y la reflexión estética en Cuba, Ácana, Camagüey, Cuba, 2021. She was Associate Professor at the University of Arts, Camagüey campus, Cuba, where she taught Aesthetics, Spanish Writing and Text Analysis, and History of Arts and Literature. She also worked as an Adjunct Lecturer of Literature and Integrated Practice of Spanish Language at the University of Camagüey. At present, she is Teaching Assistant in the MLL Department where she teaches Spanish in the basic program, while pursuing the PhD in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies.

Linet has been a speaker in academic conferences within and outside UM, like SAMLA 97 (South Atlantic Modern Languages Association); the 9th International Symposium on Ideology, Politics, and Demands in Language, Literature, and Film; the 2025 Annual Graduate + Postdoctoral Research Symposium; the MLL Department Lecture Series; and the 23^rd South Florida Tri-University Conference. In this last one, she received the second prize in poster presentations. In 2026, along with her second-year cohort colleagues, she was part of the organizing committee for the Graduate Student Conference “Migration in the Americas: Crossing Linguistic and Cultural Borders.” She also served as secretary in the MLL Graduate Student Association committee during the 2025-2026 academic course. Her current research interests are Latin American literature, feminist theories, feminist literary criticism, women’s ethical and aesthetic thought, and the links between philosophical aesthetics and literature in the Caribbean region. Something that makes Linet smile is seeing her students gain confidence and fluency when they speak Spanish.

Recent Publications

“La crítica feminista a la explotación reproductiva en tres documentales: Eggsploitation (2010) y Breeders: A Subclass of Women? (2014) de Jennifer Lahl, y Georgia’s Baby Factory (2021) de Theopi Skarlatos.” Lenguas y narrativas incómodas: enseñanza, literatura, arte y medios como espacios de reivindicación, edited by T. Fernández-Ulloa, E. Charoni & N. López Vidales. Universidad de Valladolid - Ediciones Liceus, 2026. (Currently in publishing process.)

Neta Kanny

Research Area 

Venezuela | Cultural and Literary Studies | Film and performance studies | Diasporic literature | Migration/border studies | Transnational studies (Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil) | Latin American studies | Identity studies | Cultural policy | Political science | Digital humanities 

Degree(s)

Bio

Neta Kanny is a Ph.D. student of Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. Neta graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2020 with an M.S. in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies (Spanish concentration) and received her B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese in 2017 from the University of Georgia. Neta’s research focuses on transnational representations of the Venezuelan migrant crisis, providing a regional comparative approach to the study of cultural productions (films, theater, diasporic literature, etc.) from Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil resulting from the crisis.  

During Summer 2023, Neta worked as the Venezuela Intern of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemispheric Affairs in the Office of Andean Affairs, where she prepared leadership to engage on Venezuelan issues and current events related to the country’s 2023 opposition primaries and 2024 presidential elections. Additional regional experiences include serving as a research consultant for the Carter Center’s 2021 Nicaraguan election observation project and training as a Spanish Literacy Promoter with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

Recent Publications

Nina Lee

Research Area 

Cultural Studies | Performance Studies | Dance | the Caribbean | Migration | Identity | Cultural Production | Coloniality, Postcoloniality, Decoloniality

Degree(s)

Bio

Nina Lee (she/her) is a PhD student in the Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. She received her M.A. in English and Comparative Literature in 2022 from the American University in Cairo in Egypt and her Bachelor’s in Spanish and French Studies at the University of North Florida in 2019. Her doctoral research focuses on social dances of the Caribbean and how their vocabularies of movement reflect larger iterations of movement, such as migration, identity, and cultural production. Outside of her work at the university, Nina actively participates in the salsa and bachata scene in Miami and across Florida.

Recent Publications

Maria Isabel Lozano Becerro

Research Area 

Degree(s)

Bio

Isabel is a spanish educator and researcher born in Cáceres in 1998. She graduated from the University of Extremadura with a Bachelor’s Degree in Bilingual Primary Education with a specialization in English as a Second Language in 2020, after completing a study-abroad year at York St John University. She also completed an M.A. in Hispanic Studies at Western Michigan University and professional music studies in saxophone performance at the Conservatorio Oficial de Música Hermanos Berzosa. Between 2021 and 2022, she worked as a Spanish Teaching Assistant at Western Michigan University, where she taught beginner and intermediate Spanish courses and participated in academic and cultural initiatives. In 2023, she began working at Deutz Business School as an English teacher, translator, and interpreter. Her work and research have focused on bilingual education, multicultural learning environments, Caribbean literary and cultural studies, trauma theory, memory studies, and psychoanalysis, with a particular interest in narratives from the Dominican Republic and its diasporas. In 2022, her article “The Figure of the Woman in El Burlador de Sevilla” was published in The Hilltop Review. In 2025, her short story La voz de la jara won first prize in the “Empoderamiento y Resiliencia Rural” artistic competition. During this period, she also collaborated on academic and educational projects such as ENEBE (National Evaluation of Bilingual Education in Spain), volunteer initiatives with TESOL Spain, and the SLS 4 Teens project at the University of

Recent Publications

Yohana Beatriz Martínez- Abreu 

Research Area 

Sociolinguistics | Pragmalinguistics | Critical Discourse Analysis | Language Ideologies | Spanish in the United States | Migration and diaspora studies | Ethics and Bioethics | Latin American and Caribbean literature, art, and culture | (Meta)poetics and stylistics | Corpus Linguistics, and Orality | Archival practices

Degree(s)

PhD student in Interdisciplinary Studies on Thought, Culture, and Society, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico (in progress)
M.A. in Applied Ethics and Bioethics, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico
B.A. in Philology (Hispanic Literature and Linguistics), University of Havana, Cuba
B.A. in Humanities, Instituto de Estudios Eclesiásticos Padre Félix Varela, Cuba

Bio

Yohana Beatriz Martínez Abreu is a PhD student in Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. Her current research examines the ideological, ethical, and cultural dimensions of language, with a particular focus on Spanish in the United States. Her work engages sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and critical discourse analysis in relation to questions of language, (bio)ethics and identity in migratory and diasporic contexts. She holds the rank of Assistant Professor. She has taught Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish and Literature in Cuba, Mexico, Germany, and the United States. She is co-founder of the research groups “Habana. Español Coloquial” and AMERESCO-Querétaro. She has collaborated on cultural, editorial, and archival projects on Cuba and Mexico, including Rialta, No Country Magazine, and Centro de Investigación Social Avanzada (CISAV). Her professional trajectory integrates three core dimensions: teaching, research, and editorial practice in academic and cultural production.

Recent Publications

“The Bioethical Topic of Medicine in the Colloquial Conversation of Havana,” in El español en Cuba: aportes a su descripción en el siglo XXI, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2023, pp. 297–308.
“Cuba Speaks. A Study on Contemporary Colloquial Spanish in Cuba,” in La lengua de las Américas, Innsbruck, Austria, 2022, pp. 357–372.

Massiel Medina

Research Area 

Caribbean Studies | Caribbean Literature | Cultural Studies | Latin American Literature and Culture

Degree(s)

M.A. in Foreign Languages and Literatures, North Carolina State University
B.A. in Psychology, North Carolina State University
B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature, North Carolina State University

Bio

Massiel Medina is a PhD student studying Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Spanish and a Master of Arts degree in Foreign Languages and Literature from North Carolina State University. Her research interests while at the University of Miami center around Caribbean literature and history, with particular attention to the Hispanic Caribbean. Her main interests include globalization, subalternity, and diasporas. Prior to attending UM, she served as a Program Assistant for an allied health graduate program.

Recent Publications

Yoán Moreno

Email

yjm13@miami.edu

Research Area 

Caribbean Literature | Creolization | Sound Studies | Drumming | Literature-Music Interface |  Cuba | Miami

Degree(s)

M.A. in English, Loyola Marymount University
B.A. in English, Florida International University

Bio

Yoán Moreno is a PhD candidate in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies. He is a UMIA Distinguished Graduate Fellow (2024/25) as well as a McKnight Fellow (2021-26), and was previously a Dean’s Fellow (2021-23). He studies the interface of music and sound with literature in (early) 20th century Caribbean literature as well as the relation of the former to contemporaneous and subsequent theories of creolization. Yoán is originally from Miami, Florida, and works beyond the program in the capacities of translator and musician.

Recent Publications

Sebastien Nyafouna

Research Area

Degree(s)

Bio

Recent Publications

Ana Parisotto

Research Area

Degree(s)

Bio

Recent Publications

Marisleydi Ramos

Email

mxr2529@miami.edu

Research Area 

Sociolinguistics, Language in society | Spanish in the United States | Dialects in Contact | Language & Identity | Heritage Speakers | Heritage Language Development  

Degree(s)

M.A. in Spanish M.A. with an emphasis in Spanish Applied Language, Culture, and Literature, Florida International University 
B.A in Philology specialized in Hispanic Linguistics, University of Havana   

Bio

Marisleydi Ramos Borrego is a PhD student in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies. Her work focuses on Spanish varieties and Hispanic communities in the United States. In 2020, with her master’s thesis she contributed to the research on Spanish dialectal contacts by analyzing the Nicaraguan variety in Miami. Her project examined the repertoire of second-generation Spanish and the social factors that influenced its dialectal formation at the lexical level.

Her research interests include Spanish dialects in contact in the U.S., the relationship between social factors and dialectal variation, Spanish literacy, linguistic ideologies, heritage speakers and their attitudes toward Spanish varieties. Her current work questions what linguistic form(s) and linguistic ideologies are interwoven in Spanish-language theater and what their social and linguistic implications are in the Miami context. Her purpose is to diminish linguistic and cultural stigmas about the varieties of Spanish and their speakers in this territory and in the United States.

Recent Publications

Kathy Rubio 

Email

kxr737@miami.edu

Research Area 

Sociolinguistics | Language Ideologies | Caribbean Studies | Language Pedagogy | Creolization | Transculturation | Hybridity | Language Contact |  Francophone Studies | Insular Studies | Archipelagic Studies | Oceanic Studies | Cultural Studies | Tourism

Degree(s)

Bio

Kathy Rubio is a PhD student of Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies, with concentrations in Caribbean Studies and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching. Born in Belgium and raised in the USA, Kathy is interested in languages and cultures in contact, especially in the context of the French-administered islands in the Caribbean, Oceania, and Indian Ocean. With professional experience in the fields of education and tourism, Kathy takes an archipelagic approach to study how minorized languages and cultures are sustained and promoted through grassroots education and tourism efforts throughout the DROM-COM.

Recent Publications

Ernesto Rumbaut 

Research Area 

Cultural Studies | 20th Century Literature | Latinamerican Literature | Caribbean Literature | Cuban Literature | Performance Studies | Performance | Ritual | Religion | Identity

Degree(s)

Bio

Ernesto Rumbaut was born and raised in Cuba. Currently, he is a performer, actor, teacher pursuing a Ph.D. in Literary, Cultural and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. He is interested in the study of liminal spaces created in the middle of binary systems and/ or related fields. Such is the case of performance and religion, which is his main focus at the moment with special interest in Afro Cuban religions.

Recent Publications

Savannah Saavedra

Research Area

19th- 21st century Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies | Colombian Literature and Culture | Mexican Literature and Culture | Gender studies | Urban Studies | Madness, illness and the body| Politics

Degree(s)

M.A. in Spanish, University of Virginia
Undergraduate certificate in Spanish English Translation and Interpretation, Virginia Commonwealth University
B.A. in International Studies (concentration in Latin America), Virginia Commonwealth University
B.A. in Spanish, Virginia Commonwealth University

Bio

Savannah Saavedra was born in South Africa and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She is a fourth-year PhD student in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. Her main research interests include: 19th-21st century Latin American literature, (with a specific focus on Colombia and Mexico), Latin American women writers, nationhood, politics and madness/corporeality as well as urban studies. Likewise, she also holds interests in foreign language pedagogy, bilingualism, and second-language acquisition. She is currently pursuing the Digital Humanities and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT) certificates and the Caribbean Studies Concentration.

Recent Publications

Euge Stumm

Research Area 

Queer Studies | Transfeminism | Digital Humanities | Fiction | Brazilian Cinema | Video Games | Cultural Studies | New Media | Gender | Sexuality | Decoloniality | Intersectionality | Critical Race and Ethnic Studies | Comparative Literature

Degree(s)

Bio

Euge Stumm (they/them) is a student of Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. Euge holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), with a thesis on the filmic production of Brazilian trans women and travesti directors. For this research, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) nominated Euge for the Young Researcher Award. They earned a master’s degree in Psychology from UFRGS, with a dissertation on the poetics of Brazilian Furry Fandoms. Their Ph.D. research will explore the cultural productions made by Brazilian queer dissidences, with an emphasis in new media and cinema.

Recent Publications

Schneider, K. L., Stumm, E. H., Rocha, R. Z. da ., & Levandowski, D. C.. (2023). Práticas inovadoras no ensino da Psicologia do Desenvolvimento. Psicologia Escolar e Educacional, 27, e242419. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-35392023-242419 

Diana Laura Valcárcel 

Research Area 

20^th/21^st Century | Environmental Justice | Anti-Authoritarianism | Refugee Language Acquisition | Sociolinguistics | Human Rights | Language Equity

Degree(s)

BA in English Literature and Composition (with studies in Political Science and Italian) Columbia University New York, New York

Bio

Diana Laura Valcárcel (she/her) is a first-year Ph.D. student of Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami. Born in Costa Rica and raised in Miami as a daughter of Cuban musicians, she was a local theater actress, singer, environmental activist, paralegal, translator, and editorial assistant before starting her PhD at UM. She was also editor-at-large for New York University’s Barricade: A Journal of Antifascism and Translation. She involves her varied interests and background in her research, where she’s passionate about language equity in climate activism, refugee rights, music as activism, and anti-authoritarianism as a whole.

Recent Publications

Aileen Vezeau

Research Area 

U.S. Latinx and Caribbean Literatures & Cultures | Latin American Studies | Health Care and Illness | Gendered Violence | Religious Studies

Degree(s)

Bio

Recent Publications

“La reivindicación de las raíces históricamente olvidadas en la poesía de la diáspora puertorriqueña.” Label Me Latino/a, vol. 14, Fall 2024, pp. 1-12.

 “Defying Erasure and Centering Blackness in Ariana Brown’s We are Owed.” Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, vol. 23, no. 2, Spring 2024, pp. 96-125.

 “Tensions Between Female Representation and Female Empowerment in Carmen Rivera’s La Gringa.” Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures, vol 6, no. 2, Spring 2022, pp. 59-78.