My research centers on Latina/o/x literature and history, especially in the Spanish-language newspapers of nineteenth-century New Mexico. These broadsheets are littered with subtle information about subscribers' and contributors' lives and locales, many of which are hundreds of miles away from the printing presses in Santa Fe. My goal as part of the HASTAC program is to create a database in which I piece together geographic clues about these newsmakers and readers, uncovering the circulation paths of these papers across the United States and northern Mexico. Before coming to IU as a Ph.D. student in Hispanic Literatures, I lived, studied, and worked across Latin America. My dissertation project, at the nexus of print culture and citizenship, is informed not only by interdisciplinary academic training, but also by experience working as a Spanish/English tutor in local schools and as an advocate for people seeking asylum in the United States.
DARYL SPURLOCK
Ph.D. Candidate, Spanish and Portuguese