Rudyard J. Alcocer

Rudyard J. Alcocer is the Forrest and Patsy Shumway Chair of Excellence in Romance Languages and Professor of Latin American literature and culture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa (2005) and a B.A. in Philosophy from Emory University (Magna cum laude). His research focuses on comparative, transnational, and interdisciplinary approaches to Latin American and Caribbean literature and culture, with an emphasis on themes like slavery, film studies, and cultural identity.

Alcocer’s recent projects include Interpretaciones: Experimental Criticism and the Metrics of Latin American Literature (2023) and Celluloid Chains: Slavery in the Americas through Film (2018). His current work explores the concept of solitude in Latin American intellectual culture. He teaches courses on Latin American literature, particularly the Caribbean region.

• Education: Ph.D., Comparative Literature, University of Iowa; B.A., Philosophy, Emory University (Magna cum laude)
• Awards: Forrest and Patsy Shumway Chair of Excellence in Romance Languages

His scholarship spans essays on film adaptations of Latin American literature, historical representation in cinema, and the intersection of ethnicity and narrative form. Alcocer’s interdisciplinary work bridges literary analysis with cultural studies, film theory, and postcolonial critique.