Dr. Ricardo Quintana Vallejo

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  2. Ricardo Quintana Vallejo
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Department, Office, or School
Department of English
  • Associate Professor

Hi! I am an Associate Professor of English at RIC. My research and courses explore the intersections of diaspora, migration, queer studies, comparative literature, race/ethnicity, and graphic narratives. I am interested in how literary and cultural texts represent identity formation, belonging, queerness, displacement, and the lived experiences of individuals and communities in our globalized, multicultural, multiethnic societies.

I am currently working on a monograph framing cultural studies in video games titled The Woke Gamer: Colonialism and Bad History in Video Games (University of Iowa Press, 2028) and co-editing The Cambridge Companion to the Latinx Novel (Cambridge UP, 2028).

My scholarship has focused particularly on diasporic media and culture. In Children of Globalization: Diasporic Coming-of-Age Novels in Germany, England, and the United States (Routledge, 2021), I examined how contemporary writers reimagine the Bildungsroman through the experiences of migrants and their descendants. In Growing Up in the Gutter: Diaspora and Comics (University of Arizona Press, 2024),  I analyze how graphic narratives provide innovative ways of representing diasporic identities and the trauma of displacement.

My research has also appeared in journals and edited collections addressing queer diasporas, Latin American literature, world literature, and contemporary coming-of-age narratives. My most recent volume, the edited collection The Post Bildungsroman (Bloomsbury, 2025) explores identity development and coming-of-age narratives at the edges of literature and hegemonic social orders. I also co-edited The Routledge Companion to Literature and the Global South (2023), a volume that brings together scholars working across diverse regions, traditions, and theoretical approaches.

I was born and raised in Mexico City.

Education

  • Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 2020.
  • M.A., Comparative Literature, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 2016.
  • B.A., English, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, 2013.

Selected Publications

Single-Author Volumes (Monographs)

The Woke Gamer: Colonialism and Bad History in Video Games. University of Iowa Press, 2028. (Forthcoming)

Growing Up in the Gutter: Diaspora & Comics. University of Arizona Press, 2024. ISBN: 9780816553310.

Children of Globalization: Diasporic Coming-of-age Novels in Germany, England, and the United States. Routledge, 2021. ISBN 9780367528348.

Edited Volumes

The Cambridge Companion to the Latinx Novel. Eds. Cara Kinnally and Ricardo Quintana-Vallejo. Cambridge University Press, 2028. (Forthcoming)

The Post-Bildungsroman: Coming of Age at the Margins. Ed. Ricardo Quintana-Vallejo. Bloomsbury, 2025. ISBN 9781666978988.

The Routledge Companion to Literature and the Global South. Eds. Alfred Lopez and Ricardo Quintana-Vallejo. Routledge, 2023. ISBN 9781032075464.

Book Chapters (Forthcoming)

“Queer Latinas Growing Up in the Streets: Gabby Rivera, Jaquira DiÌaz, and JuliaÌn Delgado Lopera.†Oxford Handbook on American Street Literature. Ed. Kemeshia Swanson. Oxford University Press, 2027.

“Adaptation as Queering Practice: Layers of Transformation in American Born Chinese.†  Twenty Years of Yang’s American Born Chinese. Ed. Lan Dong.

“Trauma y dolor de hombres de minorías étnicas ante la violencia estatal en las novelas gráficas Maus y I am Alfonso Jones.†Afectos y masculinidades en la cultura popular. Eds. Julieta Flores Jurado and Noemí Novell Monroy. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2027.

“Globalizing Graphic Grammar: Comic Books about Displacement and Globalization.†Routledge Handbook to Globalization and Literature. Eds. Kristian Shaw and Sara Upstone. Routledge, 2027.

“Fetish and Fantasy: The Latino in Fanfiction Problem.†Latinx Fandoms. Eds. Frederick Luis Aldama and Benjamin Woo. University of Arizona Press, 2026.

“On Straightwashing: Hetero Doubles of Queer Characters in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Fried Green Tomatoes.†Mirrors, Shadows, Simulations, and Other Uncanny Double. Eds. Anita Duneer and Pamela Bedore. Under Review.

“One More View from the Bridge: Foreignness as Queer Intelligibility in Arthur Miller.†Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller. Eds. Susan Abbotson and Joshua Polster. Under Review.

Courses

  • ENGL 523: Ethnic American/African American Theory and Literature (Graduate)
  • ENGL 522: Topics in Feminist Theory and Literature (Graduate)
  • ENGL 501: Literary and Cultural Theory (Graduate)
  • ENGL 460: Seminar in English
  • ENGL 450: Mapping Queer London (England Study Abroad Program)    â€‚
  • ENGL/GEND 350: Working Class Literature  
  • ENGL/GEND 350: Queer Theory & Literature  
  • ENGL 350: The Graphic Novel  
  • ENGL 327: Studies in Multicultural American Literature      
  • ENGL 326: Studies in African American Literature    â€‚
  • ENGL 250: Growing Up in Graphic Novels    
  • ENGL 230W: Writing for the Workplace
  • ENGL 212: Adolescent Literature: Banned Books
  • ENGL 120: Identity and Literature
  • FYS 100: Latina/o Art and Culture