Education

  • Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin, 2020
  • M.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 2016
  • B.A., Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru. 2013)

Research Interests

  • Indigenous‌ ‌Literatures‌ ‌in‌ ‌Latin‌ ‌America‌ ‌
  • Translation‌ ‌Studies‌ ‌
  • Critical‌ ‌Race Theory‌ ‌
  • Brazilian‌ ‌Studies‌
  • Environmental Humanities
  • Colonial‌ ‌Studies‌ ‌

Courses

  • Indigenous Literatures in Latin America
  • Survey of Spanish-American Literature
  • Second Year Spanish II
  • Second Year Spanish I

Biography

Christian Elguera, Ph.D., is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish at St. Mary’s University. His research is concerned with the production and circulation of cultural translations by and about Amerindian peoples from the 16th century to present in Abiayala, particularly in Andean and Amazonian areas. His first book-manuscript, Traducciones territoriales: defensoras y defensores de tierras indígenas en Perú y Brasil (1960-2000), analyzes poems, chronicles, radio programs and paintings enacted by Quechua, Munduruku, Yanomami and Ticuna subjects in order to defy the dispossessions, extermination, and environmental destruction promoted by the Peruvian and Brazilian States. In this investigation, he considers translation as a linguistic tool that serves to produce networks between Quechua, Portuguese, English and Spanish speakers.

As an instructor, Elguera’s principal goal is to activate his students’ critical thinking skills. Every student has specific needs in a foreign language and culture class; each one interacts with the class materials and topics according to their interests and backgrounds in global cultures. He has tackled this issue by facilitating lively discussions in which everyone is encouraged and given the opportunity to participate, as a means to make students realize the importance of contributions in learning. His teaching methodology thus involves stimulating as well as guiding students’ participation in class, combined with giving them punctual lectures and explanations that clarify their specific doubts or questions.

As of 2020, Elguera works as an Indigenous Literature correspondent for Latin American Literature Today (LALT), a magazine sponsored by The University of Oklahoma. Considering his expertise in Indigenous Studies, his principal role has been to invite Amerindian writers to publish their works in LALT. His duties also involve translating literary pieces from Portuguese to Spanish, and from Quechua to English.

Selected Publications

Book Chapters and Introductions

“Anti-racist spatial narratives in Daniel Munduruku’s Crônicas de São Paulo: Indigenous Places-Names and Migration in the Paulista Capital City.” Poetics of Race, edited by Mabel Moraña, Anthem Press, Forthcoming.

“Julián M. del Portillo, ideólogo de la colonización liberal en Perú: espacio, raza y liberalismo en los inicios republicanos.” Portillo, Julián M. Amor y muerte. El hijo del crimen. Lima de aquí a cieñ años, edited by Christian Elguera. Lima: Ediciones MYL, 2021, pp. I-CVIII.

“Cosmopolítica del ayahuasca en Las tres mitades de Ino Moxo de César Calvo.” Iquitos. Lima: Telefónica del Perú, 2014.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“‘A veces quisiera volver’: Racialization, Ruins, and Migrant Tactics in Oswaldo Estrada’s Short Stories.” Hispanófila, no. 192. Forthcoming.

“Cities of Rivers, Mountains and Serpents: Non-Human Territorialities in Jaime Saenz and José María Arguedas.” Bolivian Studies Journal, vol. 26-27, 2020-2021, pp. 127-157.

“‘El wamani es wamani’: La lógica relacional no-humana en La agonía de Rasu-Ñiti de José María Arguedas.” Revista Communitas, vol. 5, no. 10, 2021, pp. 27-42.

“Ontological Migrations in José María Arguedas’s Tupac Amaru Kamaq Taytanchisman: The Triumph of Runa Migrants Against the Colonial Violence in Lima.” Diálogo, vol. 23, no. 2, 2020, pp. 119-132.

“¿Cuántas mujeres hay en el Consejo de Amaw’tas?” Traduciendo políticas de género en De cuando en cuando Saturnina.” Litterata. Revista Centro de Estudos Portugueses Hélio Simões, 2018, vol 8, no. 1, pp. 135-153.

“El viaje como pasaje: movilidad y defensa de lugar en The Falling Sky de Davi Kopenawa.” Amerika. Memoires, identities, territoires, no. 14, 2016.

Book Reviews

Revista Chirapu.  Edición  facsimilar, edited by Luis Apaza  Calizaya. Metáfora. Revista de literatura y análisis del discurso, vol. 4, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1-4.

Literatura y cultura en el sur andino. Cusco-Puno (Siglos XX y XXI), by Ulises Zevallos Aguilar. América Crítica, vol. 4, no. 2, 2020, pp. 173–175

Biografía y polémica. El Inca Garcilaso y el archivo Colonial andino en el siglo XIX, by Enrique Cortez. Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 22, 2019, pp. 316-318.

Churata postcolonial, by Mabel Moraña, A Contracorriente, vol. 13, no. 2, 2016, pp, 373-378.

La estética de lo mínimo. Ensayos sobre microrrelatos mexicanos, edited by Pablo Brescia, Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, vol.41, no. 82, 2015, p.404-40.

Translations

“Kichka uma / tankar kichka…= Little Tankar of thorny head…” by Dida Aguirre.  Latin American Literature Today, no. 20, 2021. Translation from Quechua to English.

“Warmipa qapariynin = Cries of a woman” by Gloria Cáceres Varga. Latin American Literature Today, no. 20, 2021. Translation from Quechua to English.

“Paquma = The Free Day” by Ramiro Vega. Latin American Literature Today, no. 19, 2021. Translation from Quechua to English.

“Reencantar el mundo con la literatura indígena” by Aline Ngrenhtabare Lopes Kayapó and Edson Bepkro Kayapó. Latin American Literature Today, no. 18, 2021. Translation from Portuguese to Spanish.

“Retomada/Retomar/Recovering” by Julie Dorrico. Latin American Literature Today, no. 18, 2021. Translation from Portuguese to Spanish and English.

Honors and Awards

  • Fath Fellowship, Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The University of Texas at Austin, 2018-2019.
  • Summer Graduate Grant Research, The Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) program at The University of Texas at Austin, 2018.
  • Summer Scholarship, LILAS Benson Brazilian Center, The University of Texas at Austin, 2017.
  • Graduate School Prestigious Fellowship, Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The University of Texas at Austin, 2014-2015.
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