Gastón Alzate, Ph.D ____________________________________________________________________ College of Arts and Letters / Department of Modern Languages & Literatures

Professor of SPANISH (Latin American Literature, Theater, Popular Culture & Performance Arts).

Director of KARPA, Journal of Theatricalities & Visual Cultures.

Member of CAL STATE LA Golden Eagle / Aguila de Oro Mariachi Band. 

INTRODUCTION

I am from Cali (Valle del Cauca), Colombia. Currently I am Full Professor of Spanish where I teach Latin American Theater, Performance Art and Literature. During 2011 I was Research Fellow of theVerflechtungen von Theater Kulturen (Interweaving Performance Cultures). Freie Universität, Berlin. Previously, I was Director of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies (LALACS) at Gustavus Adolphus College (1999-2006). I also served as advisor for the Independent Study group in Cuba, SPAN, University of Minnesota (1999-2000). I worked as Research Associate with David William Foster (1996-1997), and as Teaching Associate at Arizona State University. Since 2009 I am member of the CSULA Mariachi Band Aguila de Oro (Golden Eagle).

TEACHING INTERESTS

For the last years, at California State University, Los Angeles, I have taught Theater Production in Spanish (Teatro en español), and developed several collaborative projects involving the Music and Theater Departments (see Mariachi Quixote). I have also taught undergraduate and MA courses on Contemporary Latin American Theater and Literature, graduate seminars on Latino and Latin American Performance Art, and on Mexican Popular Cultures from the point of view of theater and performance studies.  I am fortunate in that my academic life has given me the opportunity to balance both teaching and research in my field. At Cal State I love having the opportunity to work with a diverse student population. I try to create a comfortable and humorous atmosphere that promotes communication between cultures, while at the same time promoting a high level of learning. 

RESEARCH

My central line of research and publication has been Mexican and Colombian literature with a focus on theater and performance art. My research has generally focused on the connections between Western tradition and Latin American culture, particularly the need to re-accommodate theoretical framework originating in Europe and the US when studying Latin American and US Latino productions. 

With the collaboration of Dr. Paola Marín, I founded the academic electronic journal Karpain 2009, devoted to theatrical dissidences, visual arts, and culture. It publishes articles in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. The journal is a peer-reviewed publication indexed by the MLA International Bibliography, which encompasses Latin American and Iberian performing and visual culture manifestations such as political cabaret, dance, performance art, theater, social theatricalities, graffiti, photography, and film.

During my Fellowship at the Verflechtungen von Theater Kulturen in Berlin (2011) I did a research on Contemporary Mexican Political Cabaret focusing on the diverse processes of interweaving of cultures. My experience at Berlin allowed me to better understand additional perspectives on the Performance Studies field. These include the German scholarly tradition and the viewpoints of so-called Third World scholars who have questioned the intercultural component in the origins of the Performance Studies field in the U.S., principally the fact that performative manifestations from cultures beyond the Anglo-European context are often times stripped of their specifichistorical conditions.   (More information here). 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

COMPLETE LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Research Fellow (2010-2011)

• Freie Universität, Interweaving Performance Cultures
  Berlín, Germany

Ph.D. Contemporary Mexican Theater, 1997

• Arizona State University
  Tempe, AZ.

Masters Latin American Art and Performance, 1991

• Universidad del Rosario
  Bogotá, Colombia.

B.A. Contemporary Latin American Literature, 1989

• Universidad Javeriana
  Bogotá, Colombia.

Studies of piano, flute and composition, 1979-1984

• Real Conservatorio Superior de Música y Canto
  Madrid, Spain

COURSE LISTING