DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Biography

Mariajosé Rodríguez Pliego (PhD in Comparative Literature, Brown University) is an Assistant Professor of English at Northwestern. She is a comparative scholar of Indigenous, U.S. Latinx, and Latin American literature. Her book manuscript, “Foundational Futures: Nationhood, Migration, and Environment in the Literatures of Abiayala,” explores the language of nationalism in the United States and Mexico from the nineteenth century to the present. Bridging national and disciplinary boundaries, “Foundational Futures” learns from oral and written stories in English, Nahuatl, and Spanish that imagine forms of land stewardship and belonging outside the structures created by nation-states. It theorizes the nation as inextricable from literary forms by reading novels, short stories, oral narratives, and poetry that capture state infrastructures such as railroads, borders, and national parks.

Her work has been recognized by the American Comparative Literature Association and is published in Comparative Literature and Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. At Northwestern, she teaches interdisciplinary courses on Latinx studies, Indigenous literatures, and Latin American fiction.

Specializations

Multilingual & Comparative Literatures, Native American & Indigenous Literature, Environmental Humanities, Latinx Literature, Postcolonial & Diaspora Studies, Critical Race Studies