Degrees: PHD, 1998, Duke Univ; BA, 1992, Univ Puerto Rico Rio Piedras

Bio:

Zilkia Janer received a PhD in Literature and Critical Theory from Duke University. Her research examines diverse cultural practices in the context of modernity, coloniality, and globalization.

Her book Puerto Rican Nation-Building Literature: Impossible Romance (University Press of Florida, 2005) analyzes the role of literature and of subaltern intellectuals in the construction of a nationalism that does not contest colonialism. This book was awarded Hofstra's 22nd Annual Lawrence A. Stessin Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication in 2006, and it was also selected as one of the top ten books of 2006 by the Puerto Rican newspaper “El nuevo día.”

In Latino Food Culture (Greenwood, 2008), Dr. Janer examines the transformations of Latin American food cultures in the United States, and the ongoing creation of a pan-Latin@ translocal culture. She has co-edited a special issue of the journal “Seminar” (New Delhi) on the globalization of Indian cuisine. Her ongoing research focuses on the geopolitics of culinary knowledge, as articulated in contemporary gastronomic writing and food studies scholarship.

Professor Janer holds appointments in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Department of Global Studies and Geography. She teaches Spanish language and Latin American and Caribbean literature and culture in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and interdisciplinary courses in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. In the Department of Global Studies and Geography, Professor Janer’s courses concentrate on the cultural dimensions of globalization.