Oscar de la Torre

Oscar de la Torre is an Associate Professor in the Africana Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, affiliated with the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in History (2011) from the University of Pittsburgh and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2014) from Yale’s Gilder-Lehrman Center.

His research focuses on the interconnections between environment, labor, and identity in the Atlantic World, particularly examining slavery and post-emancipation periods in Brazil, Cuba, and the U.S. Key areas include Black peasant movements across the Americas, Amazonian history, and comparative race relations in Latin America vs. the U.S.

Recent publications analyze 20th-century rural protests in Amazonia (2021), post-emancipation societal transformations (2014), and quilombo land rights (2013). His award-winning book The People of the River (2018) explores Afro-Brazilian environmental adaptation.

• ASWAD Outstanding First Book Prize (2019)
• LASA Best Book on Amazonian Studies (2020)
• BRASA Honorary Mention (2019)

De la Torre serves as a reviewer for Hispanic American Historical Review, The Americas, and other journals. His current project examines interracial dynamics in Matanzas, Cuba (1833–1898) regarding labor, leisure, and disease.