CENTRO Press and Lost and Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative are excited to announce the selected fellows for the Diasporican Archives Graduate Research Fellowship for the 2025 summer term: Carlos Ortiz Burgos and Marcela Joya.
The Diasporican Archives Chapbook Series is an initiative that will showcase materials from the extensive archives of Diasporican literature held at CENTRO. Fueled by the scholarly endeavors of the selected fellows, the series promises to offer readers a deeper understanding of the cultural, political, and social dimensions of the Puerto Rican diaspora experience through the CENTRO archives.
The fellows will conduct research at CENTRO’s Archives to edit a chapbook with original research and unpublished archival materials. Fellows will have the support of advisors composed of members of both CENTRO and Lost and Found. Successful chapbooks will be co-published as part of CENTRO Press’ Diasporican Archives Chapbook Series and Lost and Found. This summer, our goal is to incentivize the publication of literary materials from CENTRO’s Archive with a rigorous academic framing; to keep CENTRO’s archive alive and dynamic; to make diasporic Puerto Rican literature easily available to students, teachers, professors, researchers, and readers everywhere.
During the summer, Ortiz Burgos’ historical research focuses on the development of modern art in the insular Caribbean during the first half of the 20th Century. He hopes to establish dialogues between Puerto Rican artists living in the Caribbean and the diaspora. While Joya’s research will focus on the Latin American musical diaspora in New York, primarily emphasizing jazz (Latin) and a gender perspective. She’s interested in approaching ethnographic research and writing methods from the intersection of literature, music, and the visual arts.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS:
- Carlos Ortiz Burgos is a Puerto Rican art historian and curator. He holds a BA from the University of Puerto Rico, an MA from Florida State University, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the City University of New York. His historical research focuses on the development of modern art in the insular Caribbean during the first half of the 20th Century, and his curatorial projects currently seek to establish dialogues between Puerto Rican artists living in the Caribbean and the diaspora.
- Marcela Joya has contributed to various music publications in Latin America and the US. She currently teaches in the Music Department at Hunter College and is a PhD student in Ethnomusicology at the Graduate Center. Her research focuses on the Latin American musical diaspora in New York, with a primary emphasis on jazz (Latin), and a gender perspective. Before focusing on academia, Marcela completed an MFA in Creative Writing at New York University and is interested in approaching ethnographic research and writing methods from the intersection of literature, music, and the visual arts.