Joseph Hartman

Joseph Hartman is an Associate Professor of Art History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, serving as Art History Faculty Mentor with expertise in Caribbean and Latin American visual cultures. His research examines how twentieth-century nation-building and urban renewal intersected with US hegemony to transform landscapes and redefine political inclusion in the region.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Art History from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
• M.A. in Art History from University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
• B.A. in Art and Spanish from Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana

Hartman's scholarship centers on built environments and visual culture—landscapes, monuments, photography, and commercial design—to analyze urban space in relation to modern citizenship. His work reveals how foreign cultural influences reshaped natural environments while altering visibility in civil society, with particular focus on Machado's Cuba and hurricane-related chronotopes in Caribbean art history. Key publications include the award-winning Dictator’s Dreamscape (2019) and edited volume Imperial Islands (2022).

His 15 most recent publications (2018-2024) demonstrate consistent thematic focus on hurricanes as cultural agents, US imperialism in the insular empire, and architectural politics in Cuba and the Caribbean. These works span Art History, Environmental Humanities, and Cultural Studies, with recurring subfields including chronotope theory, disaster representation, and postcolonial visual analysis.

Hartman's scholarly recognition includes:

• National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Stipend (2022)
• Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Research Grant (2022)
• American Philosophical Society, Franklin Research Grant (2021)

As Faculty Mentor, he guides students in Art History and Latinx/Latin American Studies. His research has secured significant external funding from the NEH, Graham Foundation, American Philosophical Society, and University of Missouri Research Board, supporting fieldwork on Caribbean architecture and climate-related visual culture. Current projects include the manuscript Eye of the Hurricane examining art-architecture-climate intersections in the modern Caribbean.

Hartman's collaborative work with institutions like the Torrance Art Museum for Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA demonstrates active engagement with interdisciplinary teams exploring Cuban visual culture, though no dedicated research lab is specified in source materials.