Synopsis:
Emilio del Valle Escalante is originally from Guatemala. His research focuses on contemporary Latin American literatures and cultural studies with particular emphasis on indigenous literatures and social movements, Central America literatures and cultures, and postcolonial and subaltern studies theory in the Latin American context. He has been concerned with contemporary indigenous textual production and how indigenous intellectuals challenge hegemonic traditional constructions of the indigenous world, history, the nation, and modernity in order to not only redefine the discursive and political nature of these hegemonic narratives, but also interethnic or intercultural relations. His broader cultural and theoretical interests cluster around areas involving themes of colonialism as related to issues of nationhood, national identity, race/ethnicity and gender. His articles have appeared in Mesoamérica, Revista Iberoamericana, Latin American Caribbean and Ethnic Studies and Procesos: Revista Ecuatoriana de Historia. He has a book manuscript in preparation about Guatemala’s maya movement titled, Nacionalismos mayas y desafíos postcoloniales en Guatemala: Colonialidad, Modernidad y políticas de la identidad cultural.