Óscar Ruiz Hernández

Assistant Professor of Spanish, General Faculty
Office Hours:
Via Zoom (contact Prof. Ruiz Hernández for the link)

Education

Ph.D., Spanish, U.Va. (2020)
M.A., Pedagogy, High School Teaching, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain (2015)
B.A., Spanish Philology, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain (2014), premio extraordinario

Summary

As a scholar of 18th and 19th c. peninsular literary and cultural production, my work intervenes in traditional literary criticism and historigraphy to highlight the roles of marginalized communities, social mobility, and gender movements. By attending to these understudied groups and perspectives, my current project, tentatively titled "Crossings: Identity, Work, and Social Mobility in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Theater," offers a new way of understanding the broader social changes that characterized the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in Spain, as they were dramatized in elite homes, public spaces, and at court. "Crossings" draws from archival work (BNE, Biblioteca Histórica Municipal de Madrid) and theoretical frameworks (social justice, drama theory, waste and socioeconomics) from my dissertation, which focused exclusively on the eighteenth century, and extends them into the nineteenth century to show change and continuity over time. In the classroom, whether in person or online, I find great joy in introducing students to the different genres of modern Spanish and Latin American literature. My courses introduce students to genre theory, formal analysis, and close reading, as well as intermediate and advanced language instruction. In Summer 2020 I completed a certificate in online instruction for language teachers.

Research Interests

  • 18th and 19th c. Spanish Literature
  • Theater Scenography and Staging
  • Labor and Discard Studies
  • Costumbrismo and political utopia
  • Creative writing & Short Narrative
  • Film Studies

Teaching (2015-present)

Spanish 3300: Texts and Interpretation (3 sections)

Spanish 3010: Grammar Review and Composition (4 sections)

Spanish 2020: Advanced Intermediate Spanish (3 sections)

Spanish 2010: Intermediate Spanish (4 sections)

Publications

“Rodolfo Usigli, El gesticulador.” In Historia de un escenario: 40 años de teatro en español en la Universidad de Virginia. Edited by Fernando Operé and Fernando Valverde. Valparaíso USA and Sonámbulos Editions, 2020, pp. 265-277.

“«El Patriota» de Ignacio de Castilla: la influencia de los artículos políticos de Larra en un autor costumbrista menor.” Letras Hispanas: Revista de Literatura y Cultura, vol. 15, 2019, pp. 121-138.

Grants & Awards

Charles Gordon Reid Travel Fellowship, 2019— Departmental travel stipend to conduct research in Madrid
Charles Killian Woltz Summer Language Study Fellowship, 2018— Departmental travel stipend to enhance the proficiency in French at Université Grenoble Alpes, France
Premio Extraordinario de Fin de Carrera, 2014— Outstanding End of Degree Award for academic excellence in Humanities at University of Valladolid, Spain
Beca de Colaboración en Tareas de Investigación, 2013-2014—Fellowship for Students at University Departments for the Purpose of Research, University of Valladolid, Spain

Service & Community Outreach

University of Virginia (2015-present)

  • Co-organizer, Tertulia (Spanish-language meet up for UVA students, faculty, staff and community members) (Fall 2020-present)
  • Member, UVa Spanish Theater Group (2015-present)

Department of Spanish Literature, Literary Theory, and Comparative Literature, University of Valladolid, Spain (2013-2014)

  • Aid to Assistant Editor (Reviewed formatting requirements for essay submissions to the academic journal Castilla. Estudios de Literatura)