Jaime Hernandez

Jaime Hernández Vargas is a scholar whose teaching and research engage with Early Modern Global Hispanophone Studies. His work explores intersections of science and technology, death studies and public health, race and theories of the body, gender and sexuality, law and criminality, as well as visual, material, and fashion cultures. He is particularly interested in how the Renaissance and Baroque periods continue to shape contemporary literature, painting, performance, and film. His current book project investigates body diversity in the Early Modern global Hispanophone world, with a special focus on artificiality and social control across interdisciplinary and transregional sources from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Jaime has designed and taught courses on language, literature, cultural history, film, and critical studies at several universities in the United States. In the classroom, his priority is to cultivate an environment that is rigorous, thought-provoking, collaborative, and welcoming. He emphasizes the value of historical knowledge while guiding students to connect it with the complexities of the contemporary world.

Having lived and conducted research in Mexico City, São Paulo, Madrid, and multiple U.S. cities, Jaime brings a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective to his work. His personal experiences and commitment to diversity continue to inform the questions he asks and the cultural productions he studies across the Spanish-speaking world.