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-Latino 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 teaches GS2 “Cultural Globalization,” GS105 “Globalization of Food Cultures” and GS 170 “Cultural Politics of Globalization.”  She also teaches LACS 1 “Putting Latin America and the Caribbean on the Map” for the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.  All her courses focus on different issues related to the politics of culture and knowledge construction in and about globalization.

Teaching Interests

Research Interests

Recent Courses Taught