Jose Manuel Cortez

Jose Manuel Cortez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Oregon, where he is also the Director of Latinx Studies. He is affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences and contributes to interdisciplinary fields including Digital Humanities, Disability Studies, and Critical Theory. His research spans rhetoric, decolonial studies, and Latinx and Latin American thought.

• Institution: University of Oregon
• School: College of Arts and Sciences
• Department: Department of English
• Role: Assistant Professor, Director of Latinx Studies
• Email: jcortez3@uoregon.edu
• Office: 319 PLC, Eugene, OR

His research interests include Rhetoric, Latinx Studies, Decoloniality, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, and Composition. Cortez explores the intersections of race, epistemology, and rhetoric, particularly at the US-Mexico border and within Latinx writing. He critically engages with the politics of difference and the limitations of Western knowledge systems.

The recent publications of Jose Manuel Cortez reflect a strong thematic focus on decolonial rhetoric, subalternity, and the critique of Western epistemologies. His work consistently interrogates how power, identity, and knowledge are constructed in rhetorical discourse, especially in Latin American and Latinx contexts. Articles such as 'The Trace of a Mark That Scatters' and 'On Disinvention' highlight his theoretical engagement with decolonial thought and Black subjectivity at the border. His scholarship also extends into pedagogy, as seen in his work on VR integration in classrooms.

Jose Manuel Cortez has collaborated with scholars such as Romeo Garcia, Michael J. Kennedy, and Marijel Melo. His work has been published in prominent journals like Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Journal for the History of Rhetoric, and College Composition and Communication.

He is actively involved in interdisciplinary research and holds affiliations with CLLAS (Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies), Digital Humanities, and Disability Studies at the University of Oregon.