Wadda Ríos-Font

Wadda Ríos-Font is Professor of Spanish and Latin American Cultures at Barnard College, with affiliated faculty status in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Columbia University. She has previously held academic positions at Brown University and the University of Rochester, and has served as a visiting scholar at institutions including UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Rutgers.

Education:

• B.A., Johns Hopkins University
• M.A., Harvard University
• Ph.D., Harvard University

Her research centers on the cultural and literary history of modern Spain (1800–present), with a focus on literary historiography, canon formation, gender and class dynamics, and transatlantic cultural exchanges between Spain and Puerto Rico. She explores how national identity is constructed culturally apart from political nation-states, particularly in post-imperial contexts.

Her publications and lectures reflect a strong interdisciplinary engagement with literature, history, political theory, and cultural studies. Recent work, including her Guggenheim-supported project Quasimodo’s Bell, examines the persistence of cultural ties between Puerto Rico and Spain despite colonial dissolution. Her scholarship appears in leading journals such as Hispanic Review, MLN, and Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, as well as in the Cambridge History of Spanish Literature.

Scientific Awards:

• John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
• Barnard Presidential Research Fellowship
• Travel Aid from the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain's Ministry of Culture and United States Universities

Prof. Ríos-Font has been an active participant in the academic community, delivering invited lectures across the United States, Europe, and Israel. She has received institutional support for archival research in Spain and Puerto Rico, and her work bridges literary analysis with broader socio-political and historical inquiry. While no formal list of advisees is provided, her extensive publication and lecture record suggests a significant mentorship and scholarly leadership role.

She is affiliated with research centers such as the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain) and has conducted scholarly residencies, including at the University of Washington’s Whiteley Center, underscoring her integration into collaborative and interdisciplinary academic networks.