Ricardo Vazquez-Diaz

Education

University of Pittsburgh, PhD, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, 2022
Universidad de La Habana, MA, Latin American Studies, 2008

Areas of Expertise

Latin American Studies

Bio

My work focuses on the intersections of literature, sound studies, and digital humanities, with a particular emphasis on Latin American and Caribbean cultural production. I am the author of two books and more than twenty peer-reviewed articles published in leading academic journals. My academic career, spanning more than twenty years, has been accompanied by extensive work as an editor and writer, both in Cuba and in U.S.-based scholarly journals such as Variaciones Borges and Revista Iberoamericana. I have also been a frequent collaborator with public radio, bridging research and broader audiences.

Research Interests

My research explores the intersections of literature, sound studies, and digital humanities in Latin American and Caribbean cultural production. I have focused particularly on the work of Cuban authors like Severo Sarduy, investigating sonic imaginaries, radio, and transatlantic networks, while also engaging with Afro-Cuban journalism, stories, and epistemologies through historical archives—particularly the Lydia Cabrera Papers at the University of Miami. These projects connect questions of migration, exile, and justice with digital scholarship, archival practice, and collaborative student work. More broadly, I am committed to examining how sound, media, and literature shape cultural memory and social transformation across the Caribbean and its diasporas.
Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy centers on creating classrooms as spaces of intercultural dialogue, critical inquiry, and linguistic empowerment. I integrate communicative, task-based approaches with community engagement and public scholarship, encouraging students to connect language learning with real-world issues such as health, migration, and the environment. Through non-disposable assignments, symposiums, and collaborative media projects, I help students develop advanced proficiency while linking their academic work to civic responsibility. Ultimately, I aim to prepare students to use Spanish language and Latin American and Caribbean cultural knowledge as tools for critical thinking, ethical action, and social transformation.
Current Courses
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Service Activities and Community Relations

Community Engagement Initiatives
Co-creator of the Latin American and Latinx Symposium and co-organizer of the Festival Latino, both designed to build bridges between the university and local communities while offering students opportunities to share their scholarship and cultural work.
Archival and Cultural Collaborations
Leader of projects with the Nabb Research Center and Delmarva Public Media that integrate archival research, oral histories, and media production, fostering student engagement with regional and Latinx histories.
Latin American Studies Minor
Serving as co-director of the Latin American Studies minor, I help coordinate curriculum, advising, and programming that support interdisciplinary learning and expand the visibility of Latin American and Caribbean studies across campus.
External Collaboration Highlights

In 2022, I gave the talk “La radio como mecanismo de promoción de la literatura latinoamericana en Francia: las colecciones de Severo Sarduy para Éditions du Seuil and Gallimard” at the Master: Métiers du libre et de l’édition, Cergy-Paris Université, exploring the intersections of broadcasting and publishing in transatlantic literary networks.
In 2023, I presented “Transducción: textualidad y auralidad en la praxis creativa de Severo Sarduy” at the Seminario de Estudios sobre Filología de Autor y Textos Impresos, UNAM, a lecture accessible online that examined the interplay of textuality and aurality in Sarduy’s creative practice.
Press Releases
1. SU Welcomes 33 New Faculty
  Wednesday, October 05, 2022

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