This fall, the Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program is delighted to welcome two new faculty members. One of these, Dr. Theresa Delgadillo, is beginning her first year at the UW-Madison as Professor of English and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies. A native of Milwaukee, Prof. Delgadillo is a noted authority on U.S. Latinx spirituality and religion, the African Diaspora and Latinidad, and Latinxs in the Midwest. Spanning literary, musical, and visual media, her research has resulted in numerous published articles and books including Spiritual Mestizaje: Religion, Gender, Race, and Nation in Contemporary Chicana Narrative and Latina Lives in Milwaukee. Among her recent initiatives is a collaborative project documenting Latinx community festivals and placemaking in the Midwest. Her fall English/CLS course is titled “Literatures of Migration and Diaspora.”
Another new colleague joining us this semester is Diana Rodriguez-Gómez, an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies who became a CLS affiliate at the end of Spring 2020. Prof. Rodríguez-Gómez uses qualitative and ethnographic methods to examine educational policy in conflict-affected areas in Latin America, particularly in relation to refugee populations, war, and emergencies. She has also explored the limitations of teaching human rights through the legal definition of “human rights violations” in NYC public schools. Her work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and she recently won the Concha Delgado Gaitán Early Career Presidential Fellowship from the Council on Anthropology and Education of the American Anthropological Association, and the Junior Faculty Teaching Award granted by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP). This Fall she is teaching a class in her home department on education in emergencies and refugees.