Ernest Rafael Hartwell, PhD
Associate Professor of Spanish (Minor Advisor of Spanish), Affiliated Faculty of Latin American Studies, Faculty Senator, Spanish section coordinator
Office
Location
MH 217D
Hours
Office Hours (MH217D): Tuesday, Thursday 10:30am-11:30am or by appointment
Contact
About
Education
BA in Spanish and Religious Studies, NYU 2010
Coursework in Literary Theory and Criticism, Universidad de Buenos Aires 2009
PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures, with a specialty in 19th-century Latin American Literature, Harvard University 2017
Current Courses
2025-2026
Fall: SPAN 340 Introduction to Literary Analysis & SPAN 301 Grammar and Composition
Winter: SPAN 352 Survey of Latin American Literature & HNRS 350 World's Fairs and Biopolitical Modernities
Spring: SPAN 332 Cultures of Latin America & SPAN 312 Grammar and Composition for Heritage Learners
Bio
Ernest Rafael Hartwell's teaching and research areas are in 19th-century Latin American, Caribbean, and Philippine literature. He engages with methods in literature, history, postcolonial thought, and cultural studies, within the fields of Hispano-Philippine studies and Caribbean studies. His current research project, borne of his doctoral dissertation, examines experiments in prose (travel writing, historiography, novels) aimed to counteract colonial divisions and disparities by 19th-century anticolonial writers of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, Spain's last remaining overseas colonies at the time.
On campus, Ernest teaches Spanish language courses in the L2 and Heritage sequences, Latin American culture and literature courses, and advocates for the rights of his students and colleagues. Off campus, he enjoys playing basketball, wandering through nature, learning new languages, cooking Filipino food, and finding the best tacos in every city (check out Mi Rancho and Tacos el tule in Bellingham!).
Selected Publications
2025
“The First Filipino and the Archive: Introducing Rizal in Colonial Latinx Studies”, Latinx Literature in Transition, 1444–1886: Volume 1, Cambridge University Press.
“‘What thing is an Indian?’ Casta and the ‘Race’ Question in an 18th-century Manuscript on Mexico and the Philippines” The Routledge Companion to Race in Early Modern Artistic, Material, and Visual Production.
“The Indefensible Story” Translation of Edgardo Cozarinsky’s 25-page theoretical essay. Peripherica: A Journal of Social, Cultural, and Literary History.
Review of Luis, Diego Javier. The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History. Harvard University Press, 2024. The Sixteenth Century Journal.
Review of Jackson, Justin F. The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines. UNC Press, 2025. New West Indian Guide.
2024
Ernest Rafael Hartwell (co-author Sony Coráñez Bolton). 2024. "Narrativas de ficción: alianzas soñadas y almas locas". Introducción a la literatura hispanofilipina Edited By Rocío Ortuño Casanova, Beatriz Álvarez-Tardío, Axel Gasquet, Jorge Mojarro, Emmanuelle Sinardet.
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 2024. Race, Gender, and Colonial Rule in an Illustrated Eighteenth-Century Manuscript on Mexico and the Philippines (1763). The Spanish Pacific, 1521-1815, Volume 2 A Reader of Primary Sources.
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 2024. Brazo, corazón, y lengua: Immigration and Anti-Colonial Biopolitics in the Spanish Caribbean and the Philippines: Transnational Philippines: Cultural Encounters in Philippine Literature in Spanish.
2023
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 2023. Convenient Quadrilaterals and Imagined Indians: An Introduction to "El pabellón colonial: Revisiting Cuba and the Philippines" Co-authored and co-edited with Hugo García González. Peripherica: A Journal of Social, Cultural, and Literary History.
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 2/1/2023. Intercolonial Intimacies: A Conversation with Paula C. Park. Diacritics: DVAN.
2022
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 12/28/2022. Review of Park, Paula C. Intercolonial Intimacies: Relinking Latin/o America to the Philippines 1898-1964. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022. Transmodernity, Fall Issue 2022.
2019
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 5/2019. “Bad English and Fresh Spaniards: Translation and Authority in Philippine and Cuban Travel Writing.” UNITAS, 92, 1, Pp. 43-74. unitas-92-1-ernest-hartwell-bad-english.pdf
2018
Ernest Rafael Hartwell. 11/15/2018. “Imperial Endnotes: The First Filipino and Boricua Historians.” Latin American Literary Review, 45, 90, Pp. 53-67. lalr_90_6_hartwell_proof3.pdf
2012
Ernest Hartwell. 10/1/2012. “Bodies (un)made: Aging and Violence in Two Argentine Novels.” Transverse Journal, 2012, 12, Pp. 21-42. Publisher's Version