Virginia Tech® home

Vinodh Venkatesh

Vinodh Venkatesh, Professor of Spanish

Vinodh Venkatesh, Professor of Spanish
Vinodh Venkatesh, Professor of Spanish

Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
339 Major Williams Hall, 220 Stanger Street, Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-5362 | vinodhv@vt.edu

A faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures since 2011, Vinodh Venkatesh is Professor of Spanish and the author of three books: Capitán Latinoamérica: Superheroes in Cinema, Television, and Web Series (SUNY P, 2020), New Maricón Cinema: Outing Latin American Film (U of Texas P, 2016), and The Body as Capital: Masculinities in Contemporary Latin American Fiction (U of Arizona P, 2015). He co-edited with María del Carmen Caña Jiménez Horacio Castellanos Moya: El diablo en el espejo (Albatros, 2016). He has also written for The Conversation, Filmatique, and InkStick Media.

Venkatesh serves on the editorial boards of Chasqui, Journal of Men’s Studies, Hispanófila, Hispania, Romance Notes, Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities, and MIFLC Review.

Venkatesh has won several awards for his teaching, research, and service at Virginia Tech. 

  • Latin American Literature and Cinema
  • Spanish Literature and Cinema
  • Masculinity Studies
  • Urban Studies
  • Queer Theory
  • PhD, Romance Languages, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011
  • MA, Spanish Literature, University of Florida, 2008
  • BA, Spanish and Public Policy Analysis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005
  • Professor of Spanish, Virginia Tech, since 2019
  • Associate Professor of Spanish, Virginia Tech, 2015-2019
  • Director of Graduate Studies, Master’s Program in Foreign Languages and Literatures, Virginia Tech, since 2015
  • Assistant Professor of Spanish, Virginia Tech, 2011-2015
  • Faculty Affiliate, ASPECT, Virginia Tech, since 2015
  • Faculty Affiliate, Women’s and Gender Studies, Virginia Tech, since 2012
  • CLAHS Certificate of Teaching Excellence Award, 2019
  • CLAHS Diversity Award, 2018
  • CLAHS Excellence in Research and Creative Scholarship Award, 2014-2015
  • Niles Award for Faculty Research, Virginia Tech, Spring 2013
  • Thomas F. Ferdinand Summer Research Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2010
  • Dana B. Drake and Isabella Payne Cooper Dissertation Research Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Spring 2010

Books

Capitán Latinoamérica: Superheroes in Cinema, Television, and Web Series. Albany: SUNY P. (Forthcoming)

Horacio Castellanos Moya: El diablo en el espejo. Eds., María del Carmen Caña Jiménez and Vinodh Venkatesh. Valencia: Albatros, 2016. (Reviewed in Chasqui, Istmo, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, Alternativas, Pasavento, Letras Hispanas)

New Maricón Cinema: Outing Latin American Film. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. (Reviewed in Film Quarterly, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, The Gay and Lesbian Review, Choice, Hispanic Review, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinema, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies, Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, Chasqui)

The Body as Capital: Masculinities in Contemporary Latin American Fiction. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015. (Reviewed in E3W-UT Austin, Letras Hispanas, Choice, Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Masculinities Journal, Revista de Literatura Mexicana Contemporánea, The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History, Hispanófila)

Journal Articles

“Cartographies of Justice and Rights in Ronald Flores’s Último silencio.” Revista de Estudios

Hispánicos. 28pp. (Accepted)

“Notes on a Queer (Mexican) Literature: The Case of Ana Clavel.” iMex. México Interdisciplinario / Interdisciplinary Mexico 7.13 (2018): 140-53.

“Capitán Latinoamérica: Affect, Bodies, and Circulations in the Superhero Genre.” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 20 (2016): 269-83.

“Ethics, Spectacle, and Violence in Álex de la Iglesia’s La chispa de la vida.” Hispanófila 178 (2016): 21-36.

“The Ends of Masculinity in the Urban Space in Ana Clavel’s Los deseos y su sombra.” Letras Hispanas 11 (2015): 158-70.

“Of Bodies and Memories: On Pathways Towards Reconstitution in Contemporary Colombian

Cinema.” Cuadernos de ALDEEU 29 (2015): 267-90.

Queerying and Locating Pedro Almodóvar’s ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!Modern

Language Notes 129.2 (2014): 352-66.

  • Explore VT Grant, co-PI with María del Carmen Caña Jiménez, Virginia Tech, Spring 2017, $7,750
  • Curriculum Globalization Grant, Global Education Office, Virginia Tech, Spring 2017, $5,000
  • Pathways Development Grant, co-PI with Ruth Grene and Richard Shryock, Virginia Tech, Spring 2016, $32,800.
  • Humanities Symposium Grant, co-PI with María del Carmen Caña Jiménez, Virginia Tech, Spring 2014, $8,000.
  • PRAGDA Grant for Hispanic Cinema, Ministry of Culture, Spain, Fall 2012 ($1,250), Fall 2013 ($1,250), Fall 2014 ($1,250), Fall 2015 ($1,250), Fall 2016 ($1,250), Fall 2017 ($1,250).

Select Media Mentions