associate professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Education: Ph.D. (comparative literature), M.A. (comparative literature), B.A. (history, political science and Spanish), Purdue University
Courses teaching: This fall, he is teaching English 116Q, Introduction to American Literature. During spring semester, he will teach English 373R, Documenting America, and Grand Challenge Learning 188B, Global Narratives of HIV/AIDS.
Research interests: His research interests include Caribbean studies, Latina/o studies, American studies and Puerto Rican culture.
“Professor Soto-Crespo contributes to an impressive number of fields and will become a galvanizing figure both within and beyond the English department at Illinois,” said Michael Rothberg, a professor and head of the department of English. “Both his first book and his current work in progress show Soto-Crespo bringing together the field of Caribbean studies with work on literatures of the United States.
“’Mainland Passage: The Cultural Anomaly of Puerto Rico’ (2009) focuses on the case of Puerto Rico, but its primary argument concerns the way that Puerto Rican literary production followed the migration of large numbers from the island in the 1940s and 1950s to urban centers in the United States. The writers Soto-Crespo considers are thus contributors both to an autonomous Puerto Rican tradition and participants in the creation of contemporary American literature – this is indeed the case for such figures as Esmeralda Santiago or the Nuyorican poets.
“’Mainland Passage’ was recognized with honorable mention for the Modern Language Association’s Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies. This prize is the highest honor in his field and receiving honorable mention is a considerable achievement, especially because honorable mention is not awarded every year.
“In his more recent work, Soto-Crespo transcends the mainland-island nexus from his first book by expanding out into a hemispheric set of literary works. The new work also focuses significantly on questions of sexuality and gender. It is thus clear that colleagues and students in such campus units as Latina/o Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, the Center for Global Studies and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies will find Soto-Crespo to be a valued interlocutor. Soto-Crespo will helps us solidify our important ties with those units.”
Why Illinois? “During academic year 1999-2000, I was a postdoctoral Ford Foundation Fellow based at the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities,” said Soto-Crespo. “My yearlong residence at Illinois allowed me to participate in IPRH’s faculty seminar on visual cultures and to engage in the thought-provoking discussions at the Unit for Criticism and Interpretative Theory. The vibrant intellectual life that Illinois offered always remained in my mind as an exceptional setting for any faculty determined to excel in his or her research. This is the main reason why coming back to Illinois was an easy decision to make.”
