Rafael Ocasio

Rafael Ocasio

Charles A. Dana professor of Spanish

Academic Degrees

B.A., University of Puerto Rico

M.A., Eastern New Mexico University

Ph.D., University of Kentucky

Teaching Interests: The literature and culture of Cuba

Scholarly Interests: Afro-Cuban and revolutionary Cuban children's literatures

Publications:

"Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo: From Plantations to the Slums," University Press of Florida, 2012.

"A Gay Cuban Activist in Exile: Reinaldo Arenas," University Press of Florida, 2007.

"Latin American Culture and Literature," Greenwood Press, 2004.

"Cuba's Political and Sexual Outlaw: Reinaldo Arenas, University Press of Florida, 2003.

Contact Information:

E-mail: rocasio@agnesscott.edu

Phone: 404-471-6226

Ocasio is a Latin Americanist and a specialist in revolutionary Cuban literature. His book, Cuba's Political and Sexual Outlaw: Reinaldo Arenas (University Press of Florida, 2003), examines the life and work of Arenas under the stringent censorship that he suffered in Cuba, in part because of his open homosexuality. His book, Latin American Culture and Literature (Greenwood Press, 2004), offers a historical and critical view of the development of key literary movements in Latin America from the Conquest to contemporary authors of international fame. Gay Cuban Activist in Exile: Reinaldo Arenas examines Arenas's prolific writing (fiction and critical articles) published in the United States and focuses on his well-known role as "Latin America's first out-of-the-closet gay writer."

Other areas of his published research are Afro-Cuban and revolutionary Cuban children's literatures, and reflections of Santería, the Afro-Cuban religious belief, in mainstream revolutionary Cuban literature. He has also done extensive research on the Puertorriqueña novelist and poet Judith Ortiz Cofer, an important contemporary Latina writer.

He is currently working on a book manuscript: “Franz Boas in Puerto Rico: Retention and Reinvention of Puerto Rican Folklore,” an edited, critical anthology of oral folklore documented by that reputable anthropologist in Puerto Rico in 1915.

Ocasio teaches courses on Latin American literature and film and Spanish-language courses at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia.