Hugo R. Viera-Vargas
Assistant Professor of Caribbean/Latin American Studies and Music
Music | International & Area Studies
Education
B.A. University of Puerto Rico
M.A. Indiana University, Bloomington
PhD. Indiana University, Bloomington
Viera Vargas is a cultural historian that focuses his research on the intersection of race and musical expressions in Puerto Rican and Caribbean societies. His teaching interests include Afro-Caribbean musical expressions, Latin American and Caribbean History, Race relations in the Caribbean and Historical Thinking.
Recent Courses
Cuba and Puerto Rico in the American Century
The Cultural Politics of Listening (Co-teach with Maribeth Clark)
From Conjunto to Latin Trap: A History of Latinx Music in the US
Beyond the Dream: Latinx History in Critical Perspective
Sound Studies: An Introduction (Co-teach with Maribeth Clark)
Bittersweet Societies: A Critical Exploration of the Caribbean
Selected Publications
“Listening to Our New Possessions: Music and Imperial Writings on Puerto Rico and Cuba, 1898–1930” in Rivera Vega, Carmen Haydée & Duany, Jorge Two Wings of the Same Bird: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Puerto Rican and Cuban-American History, Literature, and Culture, The University of Florida Press, Forthcoming.
“Representaciones sonoras: masculinidades y música popular en la colección de John Alden Mason, 1914- 1915”. El Centro Journal, Volume XXXII, Number II, Summer 2020
“A son de clave: la dimensión afro-diaspórica de la puertorriqueñidad, 1929-1940” in Latin American Music Review Fall/Winter, 2017, 38:1
“La colección John Alden Mason (1914-1915): Una documentación sonora para el estudio de la historia cultural y musical puertorriqueña” en Musiké (Revista del Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico), 2015.Vol. 4, núm. 1.