OSUHALLS is an annual symposium on Hispanic and Lusophone Literary and Cultural Studies. The conference, organized entirely by graduate students in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University, aims to bring together a wide variety of scholars working within distinct disciplines and many different aspects of literature and cultures in the Luso-Hispanic speaking world.
The 29th Edition of the Hispanic and Lusophone Studies Symposium (OSUHALSS)
OSUHALLS is an annual symposium on Hispanic and Lusophone Literary and Cultural Studies. The conference, organized entirely by graduate students in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at The Ohio State University, aims to bring together a wide variety of scholars working within distinct disciplines and many different aspects of literature and cultures in the Luso-Hispanic speaking world.
Date: Friday, March 27th, 2026
Location: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
We happily announce that the event will count on the presence of the following keynote speakers:
Dr. Elizabeth Monasterios (University of Pittsburgh)
Elizabeth Monasterios is Full Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Pittsburgh and co-editor of the Bolivian Studies Journal. A foundational member of JALLA and the LASA-Bolivia Section, she has contributed to major publications including the Handbook of Latin American Studies and Oxford's Literary Cultures of Latin America. Her award-winning scholarship focuses on Andean writers, particularly Gamaliel Churata, Jaime Saenz, and Blanca Wiethüchter. Her book La vanguardia plebeya del Titikaka received the 2016 Premio Roggiano for best Latin American literary criticism. Professor Monasterios has authored numerous influential studies on Latin American poetry and vanguard movements. Her current research explores post-humanism and post-anthropocentric theories intersecting with Andean epistemologies, multispecies worlding, and feminist philosophy. She is currently preparing critical editions of Churata's unpublished manuscripts and an English translation of her award-winning book.
Dr. Emanuelle Oliveira-Monte (Vanderbilt University)
Emanuelle Oliveira-Monte is a Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University. She has authored two books and several articles on her field. Her book Writing Identity: The Politics of Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Literature examines the intricate connections between literary production and political action by focusing on the politics of the Brazilian black movement and the literature of a São Paulo-based group of Afro-Brazilian writers, the Quilombhoje. In her second book, Barack Obama Is Brazilian: (Re)Signifying Race Relations in Contemporary Brazil, she examines US President Barack Obama’s characterizations in the Brazilian media, with a specific focus on political cartoons and internet memes. Oliveira-Monte is currently working on three manuscript projects: Our Ghosts in the Closet: Incarnations of Race, Class, and Gender in Contemporary Brazilian Horror Film; Brazil, Land of Afrofuture: Afrofuturism in a Peripheric Nation; and Memetic Politics: Meme Wars and the Rise of a Transatlantic Alt-Right.
The graduate students in the Spanish and Portuguese Department at The Ohio State University invite graduate students, professors, and interested researchers to reflect and engage in a dialogue about any aspect of literatures and cultures in the Luso-Hispanic world. We encourage submissions in the following areas. Other related topics are welcome
• Afro-Latin American Literatures and Cultures
• Latin American Philosophy and Intellectual History
• Body Studies
• Comparative Studies
• Colonial Studies
• Cultural Heritage
• Decolonial and Postcolonial Studies
• Environmental Cultural Studies
• Film Studies
• Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
• Globalization
• Iberian Studies
• Identity and Border Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Latinx Studies
• Lusophone Studies
• Medieval and Early Modern studies
• Literature and Comparative Literature
• Migration and Diaspora Studies
• Ethnomusicology
• Performance and Theatre Studies
• Race and Ethnic Studies
• Translation Studies
• Visual Arts
• Memory/Post-memory studies
• Disability Studies
2026 Call for Papers
Submission instructions:
We welcome proposals for traditional papers, as well as other formats, including performance, creative writing, and video essay, among others.
We accept proposals written in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The abstract should be a maximum of 500 words in the language of the presentation. When you submit your proposal, you will provide the following information: format of your presentation (online or in-person), title, presenter(s) name(s), e-mail address, and academic affiliation. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes. There will be 10 minutes for questions.
Submission closes: January 16, 2026
Submission link: EasyAbstracts
2026 Schedule & Information
coming soon
Registration:
Registration information will be available in January.
Upon acceptance, presenters will be asked to register for the conference.
If you have any questions please contact: aguiabetancourt.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu; carniel.1@buckeyemail.osu.edu.