Alan West-Durán, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cultures, Societies and Global Studies
Research Topics:
- Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean Religions
- Latin American Literature (20th and 21st century)
- Cuban Literature & Culture (contemporary)
- Puerto Rican Literature (contemporary)
- Race and Racial Formations (Caribbean)
- Afro-Diasporic Music (Cuban popular music, Latin Jazz, rap)
- Afro-Diasporic Visual Arts (Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, South Africa)
- World Cinema (Cuba, Brazil, Senegal, South Africa, China, Iran, Japan)
- Translation Theory and Practice
- Communist, post-Communist Cultures (Cuba, China, USSR)
Current Research Project:
“A Dog Has Four Legs But Takes one Path: Afro-Cuban Religions and the Arts”
This book discusses Afro-Cuban religions and their philosophy to discuss literature (Carpentier, Morejón), music (popular, Omar Sosa), artists (Campos Pons, Bedia), and two films.
Recent News/Publications/Talks:
- Cuba A Cultural History (2017) https://www.amazon.com/Cuba-Cultural-History-Alan-West-Durán/dp/1780238398/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Cuba+A+Cultural+History&qid=1617978733&s=books&sr=1-3
- A Cuba Encyclopedia. Gale Group, MI (2011). Two Volumes Editor-in-Chief. Includes over 100 entries on history, politics, culture, sport, cuisine, geography, as well as biographies. Wrote several entries.
- Latino and Latina Writers. Scribner & Sons/Gale Group, NT, NY (2004). Two Volumes Editor in Chief. Includes 55 chapters of 10, 000 word-length on writers and several thematic chapters. Wrote introduction and thematic chapter.
- African Caribbeans: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing,Westport, CT, (2003). Editor of book on the history of blacks in the Spanish, French, Dutch and English speaking Caribbean. Wrote ntroduction and chapters on Puerto Rico, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago.
- Tropics of History: Cuba Imagined. Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT (1997). A collection of essays on Cuban history as seen through its literary imagination.
Affiliated Research Centers:
Undergraduate Research Projects:
- “COVID 19, International Studies and Students at Northeastern” Arabella Berman Fall 2020 (film)
- “Ecology and Ethics in Santería Practitioners & Christians” Paige Welch Spring 2019
- “Haitian and Cuban Immigration to the U.S. A Comparative Study” Anne Georges Spring 2015
- “Archiving the Revolution” (on post-revolutionary Cuban cinema) by Enrique González-Conty Fall 2015 (reader and mentor for Ph.D. thesis, U.Texas-Austin, Fall 2015)
- “Gender and Rebellion in Three Films by Carlos Saura” Julia Cooper Spring 2013
- “Race and History in the U.S. Virgin Islands” Jessica Suárez, M.A. Thesis in History Spring 2002.
- “In the Company of Women: The Narrative Voices of Contemporary U.S. Latina Writers” Carmen Haydée Rivera, Ph.D. Thesis, Spring 2001.
Past Research Topics:
- Cuban Cultural History (2017 book)
- Cuban History, Culture and Society (2011 reference work, two volumes)
- Latino & Latina Writers in the U.S. (2004 book)
- African-Caribbeans (history and culture, 2003 book)
- Cuba’s Literary and Historical Imagination (1997 book)
- Cuban Music (articles or reviews: 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021)