Missael Duarte Somoza

Ph.D., Texas Tech University, 2024

Phone: 225-578-8287

Email: mduarte@lsu.edu

Office: 349 Hodges Hall 

 

Afro-Latin American Studies Online Certificate, Harvard University (2023)  

M.F.A. in Creative Writing, University of Texas at El Paso (2017)  

B.A. in Law, Universidad Popular de Nicaragua (2001)  

 

My research begins post-World War II, analyzing capital accumulation patterns within agro-export models in Mexico, Central America, and Brazil. Studies in Mexican and Central American contexts often focus on narcoculture and post-war scenarios. However, my research argues that since the 1950s, Mexican, Central American, and Brazilian literary production has offered critical perspectives on modernity and its consequences on land and human life.

 

My research examines literature, cinema, and art with a focus that transcends traditional cultural studies by showing how the form of these works reveals significant meanings. For example, I analyze Cristina Rivera Garza's Autobiografía del algodón and Había mucha neblina o humo o no sé qué, focusing on the interplay between concepts of modernity and the economic phenomenon known as the Mexican Miracle. I explore how the agro-export model of cotton, aimed at generating state revenue and private investor profits, disrupted the sustainability model in Northern Mexico initially proposed by President Lázaro Cárdenas's government. Furthermore, I argue that the Milagro Mexicano, in response to global economic dynamics, prioritized raw material exports and infrastructure development, adversely impacting indigenous communities in Southern Mexico. I propose reading these works as literary collages, where techniques like recycling and juxtaposition are crucial. I examine how these narrative techniques challenge the traditional novel genre and reflect the complexities of Mexican modernity, providing a distinct approach within contemporary Mexican literature and culture studies. My research includes works by Cristina Rivera Garza, Balam Rodrigo, Jayro Bustamante, João Cabral de Melo Neto, and Carlos Drummond de Andrade.

 

- Latin American Studies  

- Environmental Humanities  

- Creative Writing  

- Translation  

Books

Cuerpo fragmentado. Lector Disléxico, Canadá, 2024.

Canvas of The Otherness. Leteo Ediciones, Managua, Nicaragua, 2012.  

Lienzos de la Otredad. Foro Nicaraguense de Cultura, Managua, Nicaragua, 2010.  

Líricos Instantes. Leteo Ediciones, Managua, Nicaragua, 2007.

Publications

Duarte Missael. “Angelina Pollak-Eltz2 in Routledge Handbook of Afro-Latin American Studies. Taylor & Francis Group, November 2022.  

Duarte Missael. “Autoficción como propuesta narrativa en Cartucho y Canción de tumba.” Enpoli, October 2022.  

Duarte Missael. “Peasant Women Collecting Peat.” World Literature Today, May 2023.  

Conferences

“Antropoceno y escrituras geológicas en Centroamérica y México,” Third Coast Central America Collaborative, Rice University, Octuber 20-21, 2023.

“Las máquinas y la modernidad en Libro centroamericano de los muertos de Balam Rodrigo,” The Southwest Council of Latin American Studies, April 6-8 2023.

Launch of the Handbook of Afro-Latin American Studies at the ALARI Second Continental Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies, Harvard University, December 7-9, 2022.

“Modernidad, periferia y crisis medioambiental en Autobiografía del algodón,” The Southwest Council of Latin American Studies, April 7-9 2022.

“Corporalidad y materialidad textil en El entremés de los Mirones,” Céfiro XXIII Annual Conference, April 8-9 2022.

“Autoficción como estrategia narrativa para construir los discursos de la subjetividad en Cartucho de Nellie Campobello y Canción de tumba de Julián Herbert,” The Southwest Council of Latin American Studies, April 8-10 2021.

Awards and Grants

Helen DeVitt Jones Scholarship, Texas Tech University 

Good Neighbor Scholarship, Texas Tech University   

Eunice Joyner Gates Scholarship, Texas Tech University  

Outstanding Masters of Fine Arts Student Award, University of Texas at El Paso  

Recipient of the scholarship to study in the Cultural Entrepreneurship Program in Zaragoza, Spain. Zaragoza Foundation and Zaragoza City Hall.

Recipient of the Cultural Mobility Program for Ibero-American Cultural Professionals, from the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Ciencia, la Educación y la Cultura, (OEI), México.

Recipient of the scholarship Artistic Residences for Creators from Latin America and Haiti in Mexico. Fondo de la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) and Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID).

Recipient of the second place of the poetry contest V Juegos Florarles de Centroamérica, Panamá y Belice.