Antonio Sotomayor
Assistant Professor of Library Administration
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Librarian
Affiliated Faculty of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism
337A Main Library
University of Illinois
1408 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
217-300-4812
asotomay@illinois.edu
Previous Position(s)
- August 2011 to May 2012: Research Associate/Lecturer in History and Latin American Studies, Knox College.
Education
- 2012 - Ph.D., History, University of Chicago.
- 2006 - M.A., Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
- 2004 - M.S., Counseling, Indiana University-Bloomington.
- 2000 - B.A., Psychology, Universidad de Puerto Rico en Mayagüez.
Instruction
- "Same Sea, Different Shores: Nationalism and Identity in the Caribbean," Knox College, 2012.
- "Colonial Puerto Rico under the U.S. Empire," University of Chicago, 2010.
Research Interests
My research primarily focuses on sport as the embodiment of politics and national identity in Puerto Rico during the twentieth century. Central to my argument is that the development of sport infrastructure, in its physical and bureaucratic sides, is as much political as it is a cultural process of identity. By analyzing the way sport was regularized and institutionalized we can understand the way Puerto Rican sport mediated in a broader process of a U.S.-P.R. colonial political consolidation, which in the meantime aided in the development of an identity of athletic culture. The negotiation of sport, colonialism, and culture was not only a matter of local interest, but made international when the IOC played a key role by accepting Puerto Rico’s Olympic Committee in 1948. Therefore, Puerto Rican sport development, placed in a context of “third world” modernization, is an excellent example of the importance to observe and comprehend the intersections of sport, culture and politics not only in its local impact, but also at the international level.
Keywords: Cultural & Political History; Popular Culture; Nationalism & National Identity; History of Sport; Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Latin America and Caribbean (Puerto Rico); Modernity & Modernization; Festivities and Rituals; Imperialism and Colonialism; Religion and Religiosity.
Awards and Distinctions
Awards
- Mellon Foundation/Social Science Dissertation-Year Fellowship, University of Chicago, 2011-2012.
- Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention, 2011-2012.
- Mellon Prize Lectureship in Latin American History, University of Chicago, 2010.
Grants Awarded
- 2010: Freehling Research Travel Grant (for NARA, Washington D.C.), Department of History, University of Chicago.
- 2009: Freehling Research Travel Grant (for Puerto Rico), Department of History, University of Chicago.
- 2009: Mellon Summer Research Grant (Puerto Rico), University of Chicago.
- 2005: Tinker Summer Research Grant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Recent Publications
Articles
- Sotomayor, Antonio. "Operation Sport: Puerto Rico's Recreational and Political Consolidation in an Age of 'Progress.'" In preparation.
- Sotomayor, Antonio. "Un parque para cada pueblo: Julio Enrique Monagas and the Politics of Sport and Recreation in Puerto Rico during the 1940s." (Submitted revisions).
- Sotomayor Carlo, Antonio. "Patron Saint Festivities, Politics, and Culture: Celebrating the Colonial Nation in San Germán, Puerto Rico, 1950s." Centro Journal, Vol. 20 Issue 2 (2008): 100-125.
Book Chapters
- Sotomayor, Antonio. "The Cold War Games of a Colonial Latin American Nation: San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1966." In Andrew Johns and Heather Dietcher, editors, Diplomatic Games: An International History of Sport and Foreign Relations since 1945. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. (Forthcoming 2014).
Recent Presentations
- Sotomayor, Antonio, "Sport Revolution and Populism in Puerto Rico during the 1940s.” Paper to be presented at the XXXI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington D.C., May 30, 2013. Session: “Globalización Cultural y Estado.”
- Sotomayor, Antonio, “Between Cold War and Colonialism: The X Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1966.” Conference on Latin American History at the 126th American Historical Association Conference in Chicago, January 7, 2012. Panel Organizer for “Popular Culture and Conflict in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
- Sotomayor, Antonio, “Colonialism and Olympism: The Emergence of Puerto Rican Olympic Representation.” Conference on Latin American History at the 125th American Historical Association Conference in Boston, January 8, 2011. Panel Organizer for “Sport, Culture, and Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
- Sotomayor, Antonio, “Modernidad e industrialización en las fiestas patronales de Puerto Rico, 1950s.” 8th Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2008.
- Sotomayor, Antonio, “Legitimizing the Nation: Politics, Culture, and Patron Saint Festivities in Puerto Rico, 1950s.” XXVI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2006.
- Sotomayor, Antonio, “Americanization and Resistance in Puerto Rico, 1898-1940s.” 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, UK, 2005.
Professional Service
- Latin American Studies Association
- Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM)
- North American Society for Sport History
- American Library Association
- American Historical Association
- Puerto Rican Studies Association
