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DIGITAL HUMANITIES
Twin Cities: Latinx and Hispanic Cityscapes is a community-engaged digital humanities project that explores and documents the vibrant Muralism movement within Latinx and Hispanic communities in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The project aims to map the presence of public art by conducting in-site research and building an interactive online repository.
Students from SPAN 3105W: Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Culture collaborated with local artists to create accessible public content. Each mural site features a QR code linking to a student-authored bilingual analysis, making the work visible to broader audiences while connecting passersby directly with deeper narratives behind the artwork. By combining digital humanities with public history, the project centers the voices and lived experiences of community members, emphasizing the role of muralism as a powerful tool of cultural expression. The primary goals of the project are to foster cultural awareness, enrich the educational experience by linking classroom learning with real-world contexts, and engage the public through direct interaction with the mural sites.
The Slave Societies Digital Archive (SSDA) was launched in 2005 and preserves the oldest serial records for the slave societies of the Americas. I have worked as a researcher for the Slave Societies Digital Archive (SSDA) since 2018. I have conducted field research and worked to collate, digitize, and transcribe historical and ecclesiastic archives from seventeenth to nineteenth-century Latin America. In addition, I have developed other skills in the digital humanities field as part of a team dedicated to designing and upgrading the digital tool Spatial Historian.
“Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose: The First Free Black Town in Spanish Colonial Florida” is a bilingual project I am developing with Dr. Jane Landers. This website showcases the history of Fort Mose, hereafter referred to as Mose. The town was born of the initiative and determination of enslaved Africans who, at great risk, manipulated the Anglo-Spanish contest for control of the Southeast to their advantage and thereby won their freedom. The settlement was composed of former slaves of West African origin who had escaped from British plantations and received religious sanctuary in Spanish Florida.
Found in Cuba: The Ingenuity and Creativity of Ediciones Vigía
This online exhibit resulted from collaborating with Paula Covington, the Latin American and Iberian Librarian at Vanderbilt University. Ediciones Vigía began making handmade books in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1985, limited to 100-200 copies, to make national literature known to Cubans and to create beautiful books. Despite the economic hardships of the 1990s, known as Cuba’s “Special Period,” they continued in the same house, relying entirely on volunteers and repurposed materials, creatively using brown paper, burlap, string, tobacco leaves, and whatever was available. While many government-supported publishers in Cuba have had to close over time, Vigía still thrives today as an independent publishing house on Watchtower Square. Over the years, Vanderbilt has built a collection of almost 150 of these artists’ books, primarily acquiring them through trips to Cuba and Mexico. Enjoy the online exhibit.
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