{"id":1,"date":"2012-08-13T02:09:15","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T02:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/?p=1"},"modified":"2026-10-26T14:50:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T19:50:35","slug":"kristinamedina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/2012\/08\/13\/kristinamedina\/","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"

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https:\/\/kristinaimedinavilarino.academia.edu\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am Kristina I. Medina Vilari\u00f1o, Associate Professor of Spanish at St. Olaf College, where I also contribute to Latin American Studies and Race and Ethnic Studies. As Boldt Distinguished Teaching Chair in the Humanities<\/a> (Fall 2003-spring 2027), I connect scholarship, teaching, and community collaboration to create opportunities for students and bring humanities research into public life.<\/span><\/p>\n

My research centers on Caribbean literature, film, and cultural production, with particular interests in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and their diasporas. I explore how migration, race, gender, colonial histories, and struggles over citizenship shape representations of home and belonging. My work brings literary and cultural analysis into conversation with memory, community knowledge, and public scholarship.I am the founder and director of the Caribbean Studies Network, a collaborative initiative connecting scholars, students, artists, and community members across the Caribbean and its diasporas. Through digital projects and research partnerships, I support approaches to scholarship that value community participation, careful interpretation, and shared responsibility for how knowledge is represented and circulated.<\/p>\n

My teaching spans Caribbean and Latinx studies, music and politics, gender, environmental questions, and digital humanities. I create opportunities for students to connect classroom learning with community experiences and to develop research for audiences beyond the college. Mentoring undergraduate researchers, supporting first-generation students and heritage language learners, and building sustained relationships with community partners are central to my work.<\/p>\n

I earned my Ph.D. in Spanish American Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, my M.A. at the University of Florida, and my B.A. in Hispanic Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. Across my research, teaching, and public engagement, I ask how the humanities can deepen our understanding of one another and strengthen the communities we inhabit.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/kristinaimedinavilarino.academia.edu\/ I am Kristina I. Medina Vilari\u00f1o, Associate Professor of Spanish at St. Olaf College, where I also contribute to Latin American Studies and Race and Ethnic Studies. As Boldt Distinguished Teaching Chair in the Humanities (Fall 2003-spring 2027), I Continue reading About me<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}