"Doctoral Delights & Dilemmas:
Academic Life During and After Tulane" 

Raúl Rubio, Ph.D.
rrubio@jjay.cuny.edu
Associate Professor

Foreign Languages and Literatures Department

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY)

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
12:30pm

Newcomb Hall Faculty Lounge

Raúl Rubio is Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York.  A Hispanist and cultural studies scholar, his research is grounded in the emerging interdisciplinary field of material cultures, which examines a wide-range of artifacts, from cultural commodities to the museum archive.  Rubio is a Cuba Project Fellow of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Ethnic Studies (2010-2014) and is currently on the 2012 jury committee of the prestigious Lora Romero Prize of the American Studies Association. Professor Rubio received a doctorate in Latin American Literature and Cultural Studies from Tulane University in New Orleans and earned a Master's degree in Spanish from Middlebury College of Vermont.  He completed his undergraduate degree at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. 

Rubio's publications have appeared in numerous academic journals, including: Studies in Latin American Popular Culture (U. of Texas Press), Letras Hispanas, CiberLetras, Espéculo: revista de estudios literarios (Spain), Caribe: revista de literatura y cultura, and in the book Cuba: Idea of a Nation Displaced (SUNY Press). His recent article, "Argentine Anthropophagy: Carnal and Cultural Encounters in Carlos Balmaceda's Manual del canibal,"on the meanings and metaphors of cannibalism in Latin American literature as symbolic of ethnic integration and social justice, appeared in the November 2011 volume of the journal Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana.  Rubio is completing a monograph titled La Habana: cartografías culturales and is involved in other research projects, including, a theoretical piece on ethnic humor in the stand-up comedy genre.  He has lectured widely on Cuba and Cuban-Americans and has been an evaluator and reviewer for academic journals and publishing presses, including: MELUS (The Society for the Study of the Multi- Ethnic Literature of the United States), Hispanic Review, Revista de crítica literaria latinoamericana, Latino Studies, and Rutgers University Press.

            At John Jay College, Professor Rubio teaches Spanish-language courses at all levels, including Latin American literature and theatre, Professional Spanish, and courses in English pertaining to Latin American & U.S. Latino (a) cultural studies.   His teaching and research projects bridge the disciplines of humanities and cultural anthropology, particularly focusing on the examination of ethnic identity, community formation, and cultural production.  Rubio is currently involved in a fascinating curricular project, a Spanish-language learning community for John Jay students, where Rubio's new course Nature and Society in the Hispanic World is paired with a Natural Sciences course taught by Professor Nathan Lents of the Department of Biology.  Professor Rubio is a member of the John Jay College Faculty Senate and College Council.  He also serves on the Faculty Affairs working group of the Middle States