School of Humanities and Sciences


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  • Juan Rafael Valdez

    Juan Rafael Valdez

    Lecturer

    BioJuan R. Valdez teaches all levels of Spanish. He enjoys teaching as a way of helping students to optimally develop their communicative skills, while they also develop a critical sense of community and coexistence in a diverse and complex world. Until recently, his scholarly research focused on the politics of language, paying special attention to the interplay of language and race in the construction of identity and struggles for power in the Hispanic Caribbean and the US. His publications include: Tracing Dominican identity: the writings of Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and En busca de la identidad: la obra de Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Ediciones Katatay, 2015). Juan is also an essayist. His latest book Sendas extraviadas (Universidad Autónoma de México-UAM) is a series of essays on "aimless" walking that explore the possibility of overcoming perilous notions of politics, absurd racism, and consumerist madness. It also proposes strengthening our sense of place and belonging in the world by cultivating our relationship with nature.