Israel Reyes

Israel Reyes is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Dartmouth College. He previously served as Chair of the Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies Program and holds an adjunct appointment in the Comparative Literature Program. Additionally, he is the Director of Fellowships in the Office of the Provost, where he organizes mentoring and professional development for pre- and postdoctoral fellows.

His educational background is as follows:

• B.A. in Creative Writing and English from the University of Illinois at Chicago
• M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa
• Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa

Professor Reyes specializes in Latin American, Puerto Rican, and US Latinx literature and culture. His research spans Latinx Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Puerto Rican Literature and Culture, Queer Studies, Comparative Literature, Women and Gender Studies, and Media Studies. His work often explores themes of humor, diaspora, transcultural capital, memory, and performance in Puerto Rican and broader Latinx contexts.

His scholarly output, spanning from 2005 to 2022, demonstrates a consistent focus on Puerto Rican and Latinx cultural production. Early work examined humor in Puerto Rican literature, while recent publications investigate diaspora, transcultural capital, and the intersections of memory, performance, and culinary practices in Latinx communities. His current book project extends this inquiry into visual and performance cultures on Chicago's Paseo Boricua.