Dr. Joseph Zavala is lead faculty for the Spanish program and an associate professor at National University. He is originally from Lima, Peru and has lived in Southern California, Venezuela, Panama, and Mexico among other places. He holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Miami, Coral Gables (2006), and a M.A. in Spanish and B.A. in Economics from California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Zavala has worked as co-chair and assistant professor of Spanish at Southwestern University (Texas) prior to working at National University. He has also worked outside of academia in advertising as director of strategic planning for Leo Burnett Worldwide. His academic specializations include Colonial Spanish American Literature and History. He is particularly interested on how dissimilar socio-racial groups constructed or conceived their cultural identities during the late colonial period -- either by complying with, or by resisting hegemonic ideals. From a theoretical perspective, he is interested on the specific contribution that the use of a postcolonial perspective brings to the study of Latin America by directing our attention, to the inequities in modes of representation. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles about the late colonial period, including the book: Visión del Perú de académicos peruanos en Estados Unidos (December 2007) and has received numerous grants including a Mellon Grant on Engaged Diversity Initiatives (2008).
Ph.D. Foreign Languages and Literature,
University of Miami