About
Bruce Willis, Ph.D., teaches advanced Spanish courses on Latin American literature and culture. He is a specialist in 20th- and 21st-century literature from the region, fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, and has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in the field. Both of his books combine analysis of Spanish American and Brazilian works: “Aesthetics of Equilibrium” on the poetics of Vicente Huidobro and Mário de Andrade, and “Body Articulations” on the representation of the body in a selection of Latin American vanguard works of the early 20th century.
His current research project focuses on writers, singer-songwriters, and visual artists of Greater Mexico, of a generation born between 1965 and 1975. These creators – including Yuri Herrera, Lila Downs, and Daniel Lezama, among others – reintroduce and reinterpret Mesoamerican, Catholic, and modern Mexican iconography in ways that showcase changes in perception of identity, especially regarding Mexico’s complex relationship with the United States.
Awards and Honors
- Fellow, Oklahoma Center for the Humanities Symposium: Food, 2016-17
- Co-PI, 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Grant, US State Department: “Descobrindo a Terra: Exploring Geology and Geophysics in Brazil,” 2014-15
- Award for Excellence in Teaching, Kendall College of Arts & Sciences, The University of Tulsa, 2013
- Visiting Research Fellowship, Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, 2009
Education
- Ph.D., University of Virginia
- M.A., University of Virginia
- A.B., College of William and Mary
Research interests and areas of expertise
- Latin American Vanguard Literature
- Mexican Literature and Culture
- Brazilian Literature and Culture
- Indigenous Literature and Culture
- Ecopoetics
- African Culture in the Americas