Juan Poblete

Who is Juan Poblete?

Juan Poblete is Professor of Latin American Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Poblete began his career as a UCSC Assistant Professor in 1997. He is also the provost of Kresge College at UCSC and a Governing Board Member of the Latino Literary Cultures Project/Proyecto Culturas Literarias Latinas.

Poblete earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chile and his Ph.D. from Duke University where he studied literary markets in Chile, the role subaltern readers play in influencing these markets, and the influence of cultural values on curricular choices in schools. One of Poblete’s professors at Duke University was Argentine born Walter Mignolo who contributed to Poblete's Critical Latin American and Latino Studies.

Poblete’s current research focuses on the 19th century Latin America and contemporary Latino culture. His research on the 19th century culture focuses on literature as a disciplinary discourse for the formation of national subjects, as a set of social practices, and as a product in the cultural market.

In addition, Poblete has written and researched various aspects of Latin American and Latino culture and experiences, with consideration to modern phenomenons including globalization and transnationalism. His studies on US Latinos and contemporary Chilean culture “participate in an effort to rethink Latin/o American Studies in a global framework. That is to say, capable of encompassing Latin America and the United States from interdisciplinary angles, which can do justice to the new complex cultural, social and political developments of a globalized Latin/o America.” Poblete’s work has also often analyzed literary works and their political or social role in the U.S./Latin America.