Weinberg College welcomes Associate Professor of Instruction Germán Campos-Muñoz to the Department of Classics!
Where are you from? Where did you study?
I am originally from Lima, Peru. I completed my undergraduate studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and then moved to Pennsylvania to complete a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University.
What inspired you to pursue your area of study?
I have always been fascinated by the Classics. As a child, I suffered from severe asthma that at times prevented me from sleeping at night, and during these periods, I would occupy myself by reading translations of Homer and Virgil, accounts of classical mythologies, and eventually anything ancient I could get my hands on. As an undergraduate student in Lima, I focused my coursework on literatures in Spanish but continued studying classical languages and literatures on my own. It was during this period that I began to develop a particular interest in the connections (sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit) between the classics and Latin American literary and cultural history.
Please describe your research.
I am a literary and cultural comparatist. My research focuses on the long and complex history of classical Greco-Roman reception in Latin American literary, cultural, and political history. For example, my first book, The Classics in South America, provides a survey of this phenomenon by examining five cases of classical reception in the South American region, from the colonial period through the present day—with instances as disparate as the use of Virgil’s Aeneid to celebrate colonial Lima; Homer-like descriptions of Simón Bolívar during key independentist battles against the Spanish army; a series of theatrical and filmic adaptations of the Orpheus myth in modern Rio de Janeiro; etc.
What are you working on right now that excites you the most?
Currently, I am working on a series of appropriations of the Platonic tale of Atlantis during the first half of the 20th century in Brazil—a genealogy ranging from high-brow intellectual and geographical debates to cinematographic adaptations connecting the legendary cataclysm of Atlantis to the finding of crude oil in the Brazilian Southeast region. I am especially fascinated by the enormous imaginative energy devoted to constructing, sometimes in the most extravagant ways, an alleged ancient Mediterranean ancestry for the Indigenous peoples of Brazil. I’m trying to understand this desire for achieving a sense of Transatlantic antiquity, which I believe is related, ironically, to intellectual anxieties about Brazil’s modernity and its place in a 20th-century vision of global cultural transactions.
How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I enjoy reading translations of ancient literatures from different parts of the world. I also love comic books, riding my bike, and cooking Peruvian food. This past summer, I especially enjoyed visiting Lake Michigan!
What is most fulfilling to you about teaching?
I am always glad when students bring up surprising questions and connections. In my syllabi I endeavor to define clear teaching goals and set up the materials, assignments, and class activities that map out a virtual roadmap from a first-time reading of a given text to a deeper understanding of its historical, intellectual, and aesthetic significance. But students always manage to notice a new facet of a poem or history, or relate an ancient myth, play, or debate to contemporary events in unexpected yet fascinating and compelling ways. Those moments are precious and revitalizing, as they allow me to approach the materials I study anew and constantly rethink my own assumptions.
What’s a fun fact that you want to share with the Northwestern community?
A couple of times I have backpacked from Peru through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. Those were long trips, but I would love to do it again.