Damian Deamici, Assistant Professor of Spanish, College of Liberal Arts

Starting my third year.

I teach Spanish language and culture courses at the Department of Modern Languages and coordinate the Spanish language program.

Working with students on bringing Latin American perspectives to their academic journey and conducting research on alternative literary practices.

My hope is that students take away an outlook from what some Latin American scholars call the underside of history. Ethnic studies in general, and Latin American studies more specifically, can offer perspectives on the world different from the one we gain within the U.S.–American school system. My hope is to point students to these worldviews anchored in different experiences of reality and challenge longstanding assumptions. 

I got my undergraduate degree in Modern Literatures from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina. I later completed my master’s and Ph.D. degree at the University of Connecticut before joining RIT in 2024. I am currently working on a book project, tentatively titled Material Countercultures: Literary Scenes and Print Media in the Latin American Global Sixties.

I am a first-generation college graduate. My advice to other students who may be the first in their family to attend college—or any college student for that matter—is to reach out to people in a position to help them.  Join student organizations, talk to your professors during office hours, seek out community.

Since I was a teenager, I have always enjoyed reading books and watching films. They have shaped, maybe more than anything else, the way that I look at the world. When I went back to Argentina for my undergraduate degree, I was exposed to more Latin American literature and philosophy than I had been growing up in Miami. This meant being exposed to cultural production from what today is called the Global South. Latin Americanism as a field is characterized by questions of dependency, geopolitical turmoil, neo–imperialism, ongoing legacies of Colonialism, and a myriad other aspects that undermine dominant assumptions about good and evil, worldmaking, and what it means to be human—among many others. Being exposed to writing on these and similar questions sparked my desire to study them to the furthest possible extent.

I became the advisor of the Latin American Student Association after I taught the course Hispanics in the U.S. in the Spring of 2026. Many of my students are members of the organization and I was honored to have been invited to serve as an advisor. In the case of Latinx students, the role of college organizations has been fundamental not only for campus life but for civil rights struggles more broadly. The organization performs the vital task of legitimating a lived reality that is often erased from public view. Especially in times of political turbulence, organizations such as LASA provide a save heaven for students to gather and reflect upon common challenges and experiences. In addition, and perhaps most importantly in times of increasing isolation and detachment; it builds a thriving interpersonal community. Who wouldn’t wanna be a part of that?

In the spirit of community presented in the last question, I would like to shift the focus from individuals to an organization and highlight the work of Undocupoets. This collective of writers has worked to give voice to the experiences of undocumented and formerly undocumented writers in the United States. Their mission is to raise awareness about the challenges and barriers these writers face while also creating opportunities for publication, community, and professional development through collective volumes and a dedicated fellowship. I see the Undocupoets as role models because of their willingness to fight for justice despite the vulnerabilities they may face, and because their work demonstrates the transformative power of collective action.

Both and neither! More like a chaos owl.

Uff… long and unusual answers. From first to seventh grade: architect. Seventh grade: lawyer (I had a great civics teacher). Eighth to Tenth: nuclear physicist (I liked how it sounded, still not sure what they do). Since reading the introduction to the complete works of William Blake when I was 19: literary critic (unusual choice for a teenager but it is what it is!)

Summer. I love putting the car away and walking everywhere, especially to The Little Theater, which is like a second home for me in Rochester.

Many! But today, I would recommend Karla Cornejo-Villavicencio’s The Undocumented Americans. On a different day, Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives.

River Plate, a soccer team from Argentina.

Java’s, for the many coffees and chats I’ve had there with students and colleagues.

Los hermanos sean unidos

porque esa es la ley primera;

porque si entre ellos pelean

los devoran los de afuera.

(José Hernández, El gaucho Martín Fierro)

or:

Remember it boys, and hold together

In fair as well as in stormy weather,

When a family fight among themselves

They’re soon eaten up by strangers.

Doing a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain: El camino de Santiago.

My grandmother. If she were still around, her lentil stew.

I am a high school dropout! I went from G.E.D. to Ph.D.

rit.edu/aes

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