Samuel Amago

Samuel Amago is a Professor of Spanish and Interim Director of Environmental Humanities at the University of Virginia. He previously chaired the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese at UVA (2019-2022) and held leadership roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor of Spanish and Department Chair of Romance Studies. His academic career includes tenure at the University of Notre Dame as Associate Professor of Spanish.

His research focuses on post-dictatorship Spanish cultural production, examining waste and space, memory and modernity through mediums like photography, documentary, narrative, comics, and film. Key areas include environmental humanities, historical memory recovery, and queer studies. Amago’s work bridges interdisciplinary approaches to cultural analysis, particularly in addressing Spain’s traumatic historical legacies.

Amago has received significant recognition, including the Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize for his book *Basura: Cultures of Waste in Contemporary Spain* (2021). His administrative leadership includes fellowships in UVA's Leadership in Academic Matters Program (2021) and UNC's Chairs Leadership Program (2018). His scholarship also extends to global cinema studies, with notable contributions on Almodóvar, Bardem, and Cuarón.

Amago’s publications span monographs, edited volumes, and peer-reviewed articles, reflecting a prolific output since the 2000s. His research often intersects with ethical, aesthetic, and political questions in contemporary Spanish cultural production.