Elizabeth Spragins

Elizabeth Spragins is an Associate Professor at the College of the Holy Cross specializing in Spanish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, with research focusing on the intersections of race, gender, and the body in early modern Mediterranean contexts. Her work bridges literary studies, historiography, and critical race theory through analysis of Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic prose narratives from the 15th-17th centuries.

Professor Spragins' research centers on necroepistemology (the role of corpses in knowledge construction), Critical Race Studies in Iberian contexts, and Theories of the Body. She examines how race, gender, and authority operated within multicultural Mediterranean exchanges, with particular attention to textual representations of death, sexual violence, and racial hybridity. Her innovative framework reveals how corpses functioned as epistemic anchors in historical accounts like those of the Battle of al-Qasr al-Kabir (1578).

Her recent publications demonstrate consistent exploration of intersectional racecraft in Cervantine literature, necropastoral frameworks in Don Quixote, and early modern raciolinguistics. She connects historical Iberian race concepts to contemporary American caste systems, showing remarkable continuity in racial formation processes across centuries. This thematic coherence positions her at the forefront of decolonial approaches to early modern studies.

Professor Spragins has received significant scholarly recognition:

• Helen Tartar First Book Subvention Award (2021, American Comparative Literature Association)
• Roland H. Bainton Prize (2024, Sixteenth Century Society)

Her collaborative approach is evident in co-authored works with scholars like Emily Colbert Cairns and editorial projects including 'Cervantine Perversities.' She actively engages students through specialized courses (Early Modern Iberian Race, Honors Seminar: Framing the Mediterranean) and campus initiatives like the Spanish Club, Medieval and Renaissance Studies program, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, creating interdisciplinary learning environments that extend beyond traditional classroom boundaries.