Araceli Tinajero was born and raised in Mexico City. At eighteen she went to Japan to study. She has a BA in Oriental Languages and a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from Rutgers University (1999). Before joining the Foreign Languages Department at The City College of New York and the Graduate Center, she taught Japanese at the University of Wales in Great Britain and Spanish at Middlebury College and Yale.

Dr. Tinajero’s Orientalismo en el modernismo hispanoamericano (Purdue UP, 2004), studies the representation of Oriental images and artifacts in several Latin American writings, from poetry and short stories to travel narratives. Her  El lector de tabaquería: Historia de una tradición cubana (Verbum, 2007) is the first book on the history of the readers in tobacco factories—people whose profession is reading newspapers, magazines, and literature to cigar makers while they are working. The English version, El lector: A History of the Cigar Factory Reader, will be published by University of Texas Press in December, 2009:


Araceli is the editor of Cultura y letras cubanas en el siglo XXI (Madrid: Iberoamericana—October, 2009), a volume on XXI Century Cuban literature, art, film, music, and cultural institutions.  Currently, she is writing a book on 20th century Mexican intellectuals.

Together with Eric Zolov, Mauricio Font and J. Brian Freeman, she established a Mexican Studies Group at the CUNY Graduate Center which has been enthusiastically embraced by local scholars and graduate students:


Tinajero received Honorable Mention from Premio Casa de las Américas (2006) for her  El lector de tabaquería: Historia de una tradición cubana. As one of the contributors to The Latin American Fashion Reader, she received the Arthur P. Whitaker Prize for the best book 2004-2005. She was the recipient of two publication awards from the Professional Staff Congress at The City University of New York (2006, 2008) and one from the Frederick W. Hilles Fund at Yale (2002), which led to the publication of three scholarly books. She also received three research awards: the Griswold award for Travel and Research at Yale in 2003, and two from the CUNY Research Foundation in 2004, 2007 and 2008.

PUBLICATIONS:



Cultura y letras cubanas en el siglo XXI. Editor. (Madrid: Iberoamericana –October-, 2009)

El lector: A History of the Cigar Factory Reader. (Austin: U of Texas Press –December, 2009)

El lector de tabaquería: Historia de una tradición cubana. Madrid: Verbum, 2007.
 
REVIEWS:
           
    1. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, P.R.), July 22, 2007           

    2. Latin Week NY, July 26, 2007
           
    3. El Nuevo Herald (Tampa, FL), August 14, 2007
           
    4. Centro Mi Diario (Tampa, FL) August 27, 2007
           
    5. Ciberletras (Vol. 18) December, 2007

    6. Anuario del Colegio de Estudios Latinoamericanos – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Vol. 2, 2007.

    7. Revista Casa de las Américas, Vol. 249, Oct-Dec, 2007. Pp. 141-145
   
    8. Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana (Vol. 47) invierno 2007-2008

    9. Anuario de Estudios Americanos (Vol 65) No. 1, 2008

    10. Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional José Martí. No. 1-2, Jan-Jun 2008
                     
    11. Primera Revista Latinoamericana de Libros, No. 3, 2008 (New York).


Orientalismo en el modernismo hispanoamericano. Lafayette, IN: Purdue UP, 2004.

REVIEWS:

    1. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, Vol. 83. Issue 5. July 2006. Pp. 732-733. By: Claudio Canaparo

    2. Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, Year XXXI, No. 61, First Semester, 2005. Pp. 273-277. By: Ignacio         Corona.

    3. Hispania, No. 87.4 (Dec 2004): 737-738. By: Cathy L. Jrade

    4. Hispanófila No. 147 (May 2006): 109-11. By: Christopher Conway

    5. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos  No. 38.3 (Oct. 2004): 624-26. By: Julia Kushigian

    6. Hispanic Horizon No. 25 (Jan 2007). By: María López González



“Los antípodas de ida y vuelta.” Studi Ispanici, Vol. XXXIII, 2008, Pp. 205-215.

“El Siglo, La Aurora y la lectura en voz alta en Cuba, 1865-1868.” Revista Iberoamericana, Vol. LXXII, No.. 214, Jan-Mar, 2006, Pp. 171-183.

“Asian Representations in Spanish American Modernism” Review:  Literature and Arts of the Americas, Issue 72, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2006, Pp. 145-149.




“Hiroshigue. La pintura japonesa como fuente de inspiración modernista” in Diplomacia y orientalismo. Fuentes modernistas. Ed. Jorge Ruedas de la Serna. Mexico: UNAM, 2007.

“The Manila Galleon in Spanish American Poetry” in Alternative Orientalisms in Latin America and Beyond. Ed. Ignacio López Calvo. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007. A symposium proceeding.    

“Tabaco y lectura: Historia de un amor transatlántico” in "La geotextualidad transatlántica." III Congreso Internacional Transatlántico. Brown University. Eds. Julio Ortega e Inés Sáenz. Monterrey, México:  Cátedra Alfonso Reyes, ITM, 2009. A symposium preceeding. In-Press.

"Far Eastern Influences in Latin American Fashions" in The Latin American Fashion Reader. Ed. Regina A. Root. Oxford: Berg, 2005. Pp. 66-75. Invited publication.

REVIEWS:     

    1. The Journal of American Culture. Vol. 29, Number 2, June 2006. Pp. 255-257. By: Diana Risk

    2. Foreign Affairs. Nov./Dec. 2005. Pp. 148-149.  By: Richard Feinberg

    3. Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies. 4:1, 2006. Pp. 100-104. By: Viviene Lingard

    4. Elle – Argentina. June, 2005. P. 40


“¡Pagar por oír hablar, pagar por oír leer! El lector de tabaquería desde sus orígenes hasta Las hermanas Agüero de Cristina García.” In Cuba: Un siglo de literatura: 1902-2002. Eds. Anke Birkenmaier and Roberto González Echevarría. Madrid: Colibrí, 2004. Pp. 313-327. A symposium proceeding.




“El esclavo y sus amanuenses. Autobiografía de un esclavo poeta y otros escritos. Edición, introducción y notas de William Luis. Madrid: Iberoamericana, 2007.” In Ciberletras. Revista de crítica literaria y cultura. Vol. 18. December, 2007. http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v18/tinajero.html

“La nueva edición de En el país del sol de José Juan Tablada.  Obras VIII – En el país del sol. Edición crítica, prólogo y notas de Jorge Ruedas de la Serna. México: UNAM, 2006. Pp. 294.” Ciberletras. Revista de Crítica literaria y cultura. Vol. 16. January, 2007. http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v16/tinajero.html



Conference Report: “Literature” in A Changing Cuba in a Changing World, Ed. Mauricio A. Font. 2008, pp 584-186. http://web.gc.cuny.edu/bildnercenter/publications/ChangingCuba.shtml

"José Martí y los chinos en Estados Unidos" in La Habana Elegante - Segunda Epoca, No. 24. Spring, 2004. http://www.habanaelegante.com/Spring2004/Expresion.html
                                    
"Haiku in Twentieth Century Latin America" World Haiku Review, Vol. 3, November 2002. http://www.worldhaikureview.org/2-3/worldmap1.shtml



“Haiku by Tablada” Review:  Literature and Arts of the Americas, Issue 72, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2006, Pp. 97-99.



2007 – Reviewer for Revista de Estudios Hispánicos
2007 – Reviewer for Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos
2006 – Reviewer  for Fashion Theory



•    Organizer (Executive Committee) of the World Conference: “A Changing Cuba in a Changing World.” Bildner Center-Graduate Center, March 12-15, 2008.

•    Organizer (Executive Committee) of the “ CUNY Mexican Colloquium.” Bildner Center-Graduate Center, November 7, 2008.

CO-FOUNDER OF A STUDY GROUP:

•    Co-founder of The Mexico Study Group. Bildner Center-Graduate Center November, 2008.



“La frontera en la literatura mexicana contemporánea.” Organized the panel os discussion “Literatura mexicana contemporánea”  and presented the above paper at the Bildner Center on March 13, 2009.

“El arte de la lectura en el trabajo.” Invited lecture/seminar given at the Universidad de Alcalá (Spain) on February 27, 2009.

“La tradición de la lectura.” Invited lecture delivered at the Universidad de Sevilla (Spain) on March 2, 2009.

“Kokoro Yasashii.” Invited reading of work-in-progress by The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. Presented at the Periodically Speaking series held at the New York Public Library, October 14, 2008.

“Reyes y el cine y la radio.” Invited lecture by Brown University, Cátedra Alfonso Reyes (Tecnológico de Monterrey), and Casa de América. Presented at the Colloquium on “Borges, Reyes and Gómez de la Serna. La vida literaria en Madrid de los años veinte”. Madrid, Casa de América, June 13, 2008. 

“From Europe with Love. ” Organized the panel of discussion “Vida y milagros del sujeto trasatlántico” and presented the above paper at the IV Congreso Internacional de Estudios Transatlánticos held at Brown University, April 10, 2008.

“Literatura por entregas en Hispanoamérica durante el siglo XIX.” Invited lecture delivered at Barnard College, December 10, 2007.

“Nostalgia y presencia del Oriente en América Latina.” Invited as Keynote Speaker – International Conference: “El sentido del Orientalismo desde México y Brasil” at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City,  November 12-15, 2007.

“El lector de tabaquería / Readers in Tobacco Factories.” Organizad the panel of discussion “Tobacco and Literature” and delivered the above paper at the Latin American Studies Association’s XXVII International Congress. Montreal, Canada, September 6, 2007.

“Las bibliotecas y la lectura en las tabaquerías.” Paper delivered at the Fifth Annual Conference on Culture and Development. Havana, Cuba, June 14, 2007.

“Lectura en voz alta y literatura.” Invited lecture delivered at SUNY Stony Brook, October 19, 2006.

 “Nostalgia for the Manila Galleon.” Invited lecture delivered at the Americas Society on May 11, 2006.

 “Lectura y tabaco: Historia de un amor transatlántico” Invited paper delivered at the Transatlantic International Conference, Brown University. Providence, R.I. April 13, 2006.

“Holy Smoke! Lo que el humo no se llevó: Guillermo Cabrera Infante y los escritores de la diáspora cubana.” Organized a panel of discussion on El legado Guillermo Cabrera Infante and delivered this paper at the Latin American Studies Association’s XXVI International Congress. San Juan, P.R., March 17, 2006.

“Pasión por la hoja: hacia una nueva lectura de La Tribuna de Emilia Pardo Bazán” Paper delivered at  the Conference of the Association  for Contemporary Iberian Studies, University of the West of England, September 6, 2005.

“Writers and the Periodo Especial: Echoes, Mirrors, and Waves” Invited to be Chair and Moderator for this panel at the symposium Cuba Today: Continuity and Change Since the ‘Periodo Especial’. October 4, 2004. The Graduate Center – CUNY.       

“Reading Practices in Cuba, Spain and The United States.” Invited lecture delivered at The Bildner Center – The Graduate Center – CUNY December 5, 2003        

“’¡Pagar por oír hablar, pagar por oír leer!’ El lector en el taller” Invited lecture delivered at “Cuba: One Hundred Years of Independence, A Century of Literature,” Yale University, Whitney Humanities Center, October 4, 2002



Curator of the Exhibition “Mexico through Oriental Eyes” the works of Japanese
artist Hiro Kagami presented at the Center for Worker Education. March-April, 2009.

Curator  of the Exhibition “De viento y nube / Of Wind and Clouds” Photographs and Haiku by Uruguayan artist Roberto Fernández Ibáñez at Casa Cultural Julia de Burgos, Yale University. February 2002.

Review:     Yale Daily News. “Fernandez’s haiku arts evokes wind and clouds.” February 22, 2002. B-6.