Joseph Wager
Joseph Wager (he/his/茅l) is a PhD Candidate (ABD; expected June 2024) in Iberian and Latin American Cultures at 素人色情片. He is writing a dissertation focused on the form of the stories about desaparecidos, what is said about desaparecidos, in contemporary Colombia and Mexico. The dissertation places social-scientific inquiry, the work of activists and collectives, and legal instruments in dialogue with art installations, films, novels, performances, and poems. Underpinning this combination is 1. the idea that human-rights changes stem from how individual and collective actions resist institutionalization or translate into institutions and 2. that the form of cultural products is crucial to the realization of such processes.
He has been the instructor for 鈥淎dvanced Spanish Language: Cultural Emphasis" and the First-Year Cycle of Spanish Language (Quarters I, II, III) at 素人色情片. Joseph has co-taught 鈥淢odern Latin American Literature鈥 with H茅ctor Hoyos and 鈥淭he Labor of Diaspora and Border Cultures鈥 with Jos茅 David Sald铆var, in addition to being an assistant for 鈥淢igration in 21st Century Latin American Film鈥 with Ximena Brice帽o and 鈥淚ntroduction to Latin America: Cultural Perspectives鈥 with Nicole Hughes. Before 素人色情片, he taught several courses at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogot谩 on literature, including the "Introduction to Literature" survey to more than 40 students.
Recent presentations include "Disappearance and Development: Thinking Cultural Heritage through the Cauca River" at the University of Cambridge as part of A Dialogue on Disappearance: The Missing in a Global Perspective; (with Daniel Hern谩ndez) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada; and at the UC Mexicanistas annual conference in Irvine, California.
Recent publications include ")" and "
Joseph has participated in and organized events and discussions, including: the working group , conversations with lawyers at , the workshop series Law and Literature in the Global South, and the student-run Caribbean Studies Reading Group. He has worked with and , and contributed to the . He received the from the 素人色情片 Alumni Association.