第一吃瓜网

Javier Velasco is a Lecturer in Spanish in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at 第一吃瓜网. His research and teaching bridge Latin American cultural studies, Spanish-language education, and the study of technology in education. A specialist in Bolivia and the Andes, he examines how literature, visual culture, and the built environment register the uneven experience of modernity. His scholarship focuses especially on infrastructure and mobility as cultural forms that reorganize social relations and shape ideas of progress, nation, and Indigenous modernity. His broader interests include urban studies, visual culture and photography, political aesthetics, and narrative theory.

At 第一吃瓜网, Dr. Velasco teaches across the Spanish curriculum, from beginning language courses to advanced courses in oral and written communication, Latin American cities, popular culture, and music and identity.

A second area of his work focuses on generative AI, language education, and assessment. He develops human-centered course designs that use AI to deepen, rather than replace, linguistic and cultural learning. His assignments ask students to document their use of digital tools, revise and justify their choices, and demonstrate capacities central to meaningful communication: pragmatic judgment, interpretation of tone and context, negotiation of meaning, authorship, creativity, and ethical responsibility.

Research Interests

Andean and Bolivian studies; Latin American urban cultural studies; infrastructure and modernity; indigeneity and Indigenous modernity; visual culture and photography; generative AI and language education

Education

Ph.D., Romance Languages, University of Oregon

M.A., Spanish Cultures and Literatures, University of Oregon

M.A., Latin American Studies, Universidad Andina Sim贸n Bol铆var, Bolivia

B.A., Political and Judicial Law, San Sim贸n University, Bolivia

Selected Courses
SPAN 102: Beginning Spanish
SPAN 301: Oral and Written Communication
SPAN 314: Latin American Civilization
Latin American Cities
Pop Culture in Latin America
Fiesta, Music, and Identity in Latin America

Selected Publications
Book

Montenegro, Walter. Cuentos. Critical introduction, scholarly edition, and notes by Javier Velasco and Alejandra Echaz煤 Conitzer. La Paz: Plural Editores, 2018. Published in the Letras Fundacionales series, directed by Leonardo Garc铆a-Pab贸n.

Articles, Book Chapters, and Book Reviews

淚nfrastructures of Modernity in Bolivia: Railroads and Infrastructural Reading in Jos茅 Aguirre Ach谩檚 Platonia.� TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World 14, no. 1 (2026). https://doi.org/10.5070/T4.47028.

湗�ese hombre nuevo, quiz谩 erizado de disonancias�: Del h茅roe rom谩ntico al tramado tr谩gico en Aluvi贸n de fuego.� In Aluvi贸n de fuego de 脫scar Cerruto: 90 a帽os. La Paz: Carrera de Literatura, Universidad Mayor de San Andr茅s and Instituto de Investigaciones Literarias, 2026.

湗�Pero las hornacinas estaban desiertas�: Tramado tr谩gico y modernidad ind铆gena en Yanakuna de Jes煤s Lara.� Revista de Cr铆tica Literaria Latinoamericana 49, no. 98 (2023): 71�92.

淟a sombra del fot贸grafo: Modelo visual andino en Dami谩n Ayma.� Revista Iberoamericana, no. 284 (2023): 805�824.

淢ovilidad urbana y geometr铆as de poder: El tranv铆a urbano en La Paz a principios del siglo XX.� Bolivian Studies Journal 28 (2022): 135�158.

淕eograf铆as imaginarias: Los m煤ltiples espacios de la ciudad en la narrativa de Walter Montenegro.� Ciencia y Cultura 23, no. 43 (2019): 9�25.

Review of Curepto es mi concepto: Ensayos sobre literatura y territorio, by Mario Verdugo. Periph膿rica: A Journal of Social, Cultural, and Literary History 3, no. 2 (2025): 361�368. https://doi.org/10.7264/peripherica.3.2.6113.