Mauricio A. Castillo

Contact Mauricio A. Castillo

843-349-6972 mcastillo@coastal.edu

Brittain Hall 219

Spring 2024 Office Hours
Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00 - 4:00pm
*Please email for an appointment. 

A book (text) must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us" - Franz Kafka.

Biography

Mauricio Castillo recently arrived at CCU after having taught at Rutgers University, Camden; Sarah Lawrence College; Barnard College and Columbia University. He has published and presented on diverse topics such as Mexican Muralism, avant-garde and socialism, radical intellectuals, indigenismo, and transnational film. Professor Castillo’s book project tentatively titled Avant-garde and Mass Utopias in Latin America: Global and Local Designs, 1919-1939 is a study of socialist utopias in avant-garde cultural productions, including muralism (Diego Rivera), periodicals (Amauta), poetry (César Vallejo), and theater (Argentina). Building upon local and global geopolitical perspectives, these works constructed dreamworlds, expressions of utopian desires to transform the world, against the backdrop of art’s tendency toward new modes of production and aesthetic sensibilities in the early twentieth century. Sifting through the ruins of these cultural artifacts, the author discusses topics such as print media, poetry, the role of the intellectual, public art, state sponsorship, and the autonomy of art in the context of the intersection of politics and aesthetics in the inter-war period.

Education

Ph.D., Columbia University, 2014, MPhil, Columbia University

M.A., Columbia University

B.A., University of Arizona, Tucson

Teaching Areas

Latin America; Spanish Language; transdisciplinary courses; digital humanities, second language writing

Research Areas

The avant-garde; twentieth-century literature, visual culture, and intellectual history of Latin America.

Interesting Facts

• Summer Grant, Digital Humanities Summer Institute. Victoria University, Canada Digital Studies Center, Rutgers University-Camden, June 2016
• Digital Teaching Fellowship on Instructional Design. Rutgers University-Camden, May 2016
• Minority Dissertation Fellowship - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2009-2010 
• Faculty Fellowship - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2003-2010