Weinberg College welcomes Professor Jeffrey Coleman to the Department of Spanish & Portuguese! Professor Coleman recently offered some thoughts on his research, teaching, and love of fountain pens as he prepares to join the Weinberg College faculty in the fall.
His recent book project, The Necropolitical Theatre: Race and Immigration on the Contemporary Spanish Stage, explores how national anxieties about immigration and race manifest in Spanish theatrical production from 1991-present.
Where are you from, and where did you study?
I’m originally from Accra, Ghana, but I grew up mostly in Hartford, Connecticut. I did undergrad at Dartmouth College (Spanish major, Chinese minor) and my MA and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago (Romance Languages & Literatures).
What inspired you to pursue your area of study?
As a scholar of Spanish literature and also an inhabitant of a Black body, this is an acutely personal area of study for me. The intricacies of anti-Black racism in England, France, and Germany receive a significant portion of academic attention, but I found that there was considerably less attention paid to the experiences of racialized people in Spain. The interrogation of these portrayals of Blackness in Spanish culture is a profound mechanism for exploring the Spanish national identity.
Please describe your research.
My current research explores representations of Black people in contemporary Spain. I’m in the process of writing a book on the appropriations of Blackness in Spanish popular culture (e.g. Blackface, racist logos, political rhetoric). My goal is to demonstrate that anti-Blackness in Spain is unique from that of other European nations and even the United States, oscillating between consumption and rejection.
What are you working on right now that excites you the most?
I’m working on two fun projects right now. One, I’m writing the first chapter of my book, which is on Conguitos, a popular candy in Spain that has an extremely racist logo. Two, I’m planning the annual meeting of TRECE (Taller de Raza, Etnicidad y Ciudadanía en España), the research group that I founded in 2019 that explores how we as scholars in Iberian Studies can actively conceptualize race in Contemporary Spain.
How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I quite enjoy cooking and baking. The pandemic gave me lots of time to perfect old recipes and learn some new ones. I am often writing letters to family, friends, and pen pals. I find letter writing to be a relaxing and almost radical process in our technological age. I took up curling in 2018 as a way to make the long Wisconsin winters more bearable while staying active and became enamored with the sport.
What is most fulfilling to you about teaching?
Teaching is a space in which I expose students to experiences and modes of thinking they perhaps have never encountered, with the hope of expanding their worldview. The greatest joy for me as professor is seeing a student connect their study of Spanish language, literature and culture to their own experiences in real time. Witnessing that flicker of intellectual curiosity is what inspires me to keep teaching.
What accomplishments would you like to share?
I’m the first Black faculty member to obtain tenure in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese.
I became a PADI Certified SCUBA Diver in 2020 with the goal of visiting the Museo Atlántico in Spain once the pandemic is over.
I received the Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship in 2017.
Why did you decide to come to Northwestern?
I chose Northwestern because it presented the unique opportunity for me to grow as a scholar and teacher in an environment that supports the interdisciplinary work that I do. My scholarly interests will allow me to work and dialogue with scholars in Performance Studies, African American Studies, Sociology, History, and Philosophy, among others to conceptualize new approaches to understanding Spain today.
What’s a fun fact that you want to share with the Northwestern community?
I host a weekly fountain pen and stationery podcast in Spanish called Tinterías.