About
Alejandro Cuadrado is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Bowdoin College, with affiliations in Italian Studies. He joined Bowdoin in 2024 after teaching at Yale University. His scholarly work bridges medieval Italian literature, history, and religion, with a focus on Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.
His research interests include the philosophy of history in Dante's Commedia, urban topography in medieval texts, and the intersection of religion and politics in literature. He is currently completing a book titled The Corruption of the Church and Dante’s Philosophy of History and co-edits the MLA working group Old Texts, New Questions: Critical Approaches to Medieval Italian Literature, set to publish in MLN in 2026. He is also an Assistant Editor of Digital Dante, a public-facing platform for Dante scholarship.
His recent publications and presentations explore eco-historical readings of Inferno, narrative structures in Paradiso, and Dante’s critique of ecclesiastical institutions. These works reflect a strong engagement with environmental humanities, digital approaches, and interdisciplinary methods in medieval studies.
- Branford College Fellowship, Yale University
- Campbell Award, Columbia University
- Provost’s Diversity Fellowship, Columbia University
- Brittan Family Fellowship, Columbia University
- Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize, Columbia University
- Phi Beta Kappa, Princeton University
- Dante Prize, Dante Society of America
Cuadrado mentors students in independent research and teaches Italian language and literature at all levels. He has organized public-facing events such as Dante Underground in New York City and contributes regularly to the Settimana di Studi Danteschi in Palermo. His work is supported by grants from the Renaissance Society of America and Columbia University, among others. He is actively involved in academic service and interdisciplinary collaboration.
He is a regular contributor to scholarly conferences, including the Medieval Academy of America and the Dante Society of America, and has presented on topics ranging from Dante’s poetics to Boccaccio’s Mediterranean world. His teaching and outreach reflect a commitment to making medieval literature accessible and relevant to contemporary audiences.
