Rojo Robles Mejias
Asst Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: Black and Latino Studies
Areas of expertise: 20th and 21st century Latin American, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latino literature and film; Latin American and U.S. Latinx cultural studies; Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latinx studies;
Email Address: rojo.roblesmejias@baruch.cuny.edu
> View CV- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
Dr. Rojo Robles is a writer, filmmaker, and professor born and raised in Puerto Rico. He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras with a B.A. in Theater and an M.A. in Comparative Literature. He completed his M. Phil and Ph.D. Degrees in Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at CUNY’s Graduate Center. He is an Assistant Professor of Black and Latino Studies at Baruch College, CUNY, where his courses are particularly focused on Latin American, Latina/o/x, and Afro-diasporic literature, film, and cultures with an emphasis on Puerto Rico.
He has published articles in SX Salon| Small Axe Project, Voces del Caribe Journal, the Puerto Rico Review, Taller Electric Marronage, Revista Cruce, Revista Iberoamericana and has been a cultural critic at 80grados.net for more than a decade. He is the editor of Pedro Pietri’s posthumous chapbook Condom Poems 4 Sale One Size Fits All (Lost and Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative, 2019).
Along with teaching, researching, and writing, Dr. Robles has substantial work as a fiction writer, playwright, and filmmaker. Since 2004 he is the artistic director of the independent project, El kibutz del deseo, dedicated to producing plays, films, and publishing fiction and poetry. He is the author of Los desajustados/The Maladjusted (2015) and Escapistas (2017) and the writer, director, and producer of the experimental film The Sound of ILL Days (2017). He is currently at work on a book project about Afro Boricua poetics of outness/marronage and on a series of articles about cinegraphic literature in Puerto Rico, Latin America, and US Latinx communities.
Education
Ph.D., Latin American and Latino Literature, Film, and Cultures, The Graduate Center, CUNY City University of New York
MPhil, Latin American and Latino Cultures, The Graduate Center, City University of New York United States
M.A., Comparative Literature, The University of Puerto Rico San Juan Puerto Rico
B.A., Drama, University of Puerto Rico San Juan Puerto Rico
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | LTS | 3007 | Puerto Rican Culture |
| Spring 2024 | BLS | 3019 | Afrolatinidades |
| Spring 2024 | LTS | 3019 | Afrolatinidades |
| Spring 2024 | LTS | 3052 | Latinx Film and Media |
| Spring 2024 | IDC | 4050H | Hon Feit Hum Sem I |
| Spring 2023 | LTS | 3100 | Latino Communities in the U.S. |
| Spring 2023 | BLS | 3058 | Contmp Lat Amer Fiction |
| Spring 2023 | IDC | 3001H | Honors - The People of NYC |
| Spring 2023 | ENG | 3950 | Topics in Literature |
| Spring 2023 | LTS | 3058 | Cont Latin Amer Fict |
| Fall 2022 | CMP | 3059 | Latino/a Literature in the U.S |
| Fall 2022 | BLS | 3085 | Special Topics Bls |
| Fall 2022 | LTS | 3085 | Topics-Hispanic/Latino Studies |
| Fall 2022 | LTS | 3059 | Latino/A Lit In the U.S. |
| Fall 2022 | ENG | 3059 | Latino/a Literature in the U.S |
| Spring 2022 | IDC | 3001H | Honors - People of New York |
| Spring 2022 | LTS | 3110 | Debates in Latin American Soci |
| Spring 2022 | LTS | 3100 | Latino Communities in the U.S. |
| Fall 2021 | LTS | 3058 | Cont Latin Amer Fict |
| Fall 2021 | LTS | 1003 | Lat Am: Institut & Cult Survey |
| Fall 2021 | LTS | 3085 | Topics-Hispanic/Latino Studies |
| Fall 2021 | CMP | 3058 | Contemp Latin Amer Fict |
| Spring 2021 | LTS | 4902 | Cultures and Societies |
| Spring 2021 | LTS | 3085 | Topics-Hispanic/Latino Studies |
| Spring 2021 | LTS | 3007 | Puerto Rican Culture |
| Spring 2021 | BLS | 4902 | Cultures and Societies |
| Spring 2021 | LACS | 4902 | Cultures and Societies |
| Fall 2020 | LTS | 1003 | Lat Am: Institut & Cult Survey |
| Fall 2020 | LTS | 1003 | Lat Am: Institut & Cult Survey |
| Fall 2020 | CMP | 3058 | Contemp Latin Amer Fict |
| Fall 2020 | LTS | 3012 | Latinas: Soc & Cult Survey |
Artistic and Creative Activities
Robles Mejias, R. (2024). En Parábola/Conversations on Tragedy Part I. Amant Foundation.
Robles Mejias, R. (2024). Tres Poemas.
Robles Mejias, R. (2021). Patitos comiendo arroz. Caborca.
Robles , R. (2021). Archivo Santaliz. University of Puerto Rico.
Journal Articles
(2024). Rompeforma: Defying Norms and Reimagining Performance on Stages and Cinema. Intervenxions,
(2024). "Espectadores viajeros: La cinegrafía como herramienta narrativa en las obras de Alberto Fuguet y Antonio José Ponte". Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World,
Robles Mejias, R. (2024). Breaking Form and Reimagining Performance. Intervenxions, 3.
Robles Mejias, R. (2023). "América, por qué tus bibliotecas tienen goteras:fluidez de la identidad puertorriqueña en Sucede que yo soy América". SX SALON, (43).
(2022). “Feeling Free: Poetics of Liberation in Raquel Salas Rivera and Carina del Valle Schorske’s Work”. Voces del Caribe Journal: Revista de Estudios Caribeños, 13.
Book Chapters
Robles Mejias, R. (2020). “Rodando Cuentos”. In Márquez, R. L. (Ed.), Cuentos, cuentos y más cuentos de Gerard Paul Marín San Juan,Puerto Rico.
Robles Mejias, R. C. "4 the Creatively Defiant: SAMO ©… as Nuyorican Poetics of Disruption". In Dávila, A., & Ramirez, Y. (Eds.), Nuyorican/Diasporican Art Duke University Press.
Media Contributions
Salois, R. L., & Robles Mejias, R. (2021). Latinx Visions Podcast, (Podbean).
A Latinx-focused podcast in which we discuss (sometimes with guests) Latinx film, television, literature, the arts, and more.
Presentations
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, April 15). Creative Defiance: The Expansive Writings of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Al Díaz. Ithaca College: The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, June 15). Hallucinations of Blackness: The Non-Black Criollo Gaze in Romance Tropical and the Works of Luis Palés Matos.
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, November 15). "The Black (Puerto Rican) Gaze: Behind and Beyond Bars". El Monte: Narratives, Aesthetics, and Afrodiasporic Spirituality in the Contemporary Caribbean. Rutgers University
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, October 15). Framing Puerto Rico in the New Millenium. "We didn’t ask permission, we just did it...". Mishkin Gallery: Mishkin Gallery.
Robles Mejias, R. C. (2025, April 15). “Under the Guise of a Bombazo: Bomba-Vogue Poetics in Navigating Blackness and World After This One”. “Life and Death in Latinx Literatures” 5th Biennial U.S. Latinx Literary Theory and Criticism Conference. Graduate Center: Latina/o Studies Association.
Robles Mejias, R. C. (2025, April 15). Afro-Latinx-Asian Coalitions in Martin Sostre's Bookstore. Afro-Latinx-Queer-Korea-Asia in the Arts Symposium. Brooklyn College: BRESI.
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, February 15). BMI Presents: Defining Manhood. Baruch College: Black Male Initiative and Success Amplified.
Robles Mejias, R. (2025, February 15). Intersections Across the African Diaspora: On the Significance of Black and Latinx Studies. Baruch College: Black and Latino Studies Department and Student Life.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Conversations Across Screen Cultures with Dr. Rojo Robles”. Online: Ithaca College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, the Cine con Cultura festival, and the Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival..
Robles Mejias, R. C. (2025, November 15). "4 the Creatively Defiant: SAMO ©… as Nuyorican Poetics of Disruption". Nuyorican/Diasporican Art Conference. New York University: The Latinx Project.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Pedro Pietri's ‘Out of’ Poetics and Nuyorican Identities in Flux”. Puerto Rican Studies Association 2022 Conference: Moriviví: Activating Puerto Rican Futures. Holyoke Community College: Puerto Rican Studies Association.
Robles Mejias, R. C. "Los fantasmas de la imaginación en El deseo más canalla de Arístides Vargas". Un Espacio Seguro. Department of Drama, University of Puerto Rico: Caborca Theater.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Black Festivities, Music, Dance, and Art”. Carnival/Carnaval! Celebrating the Great Afro-Latinx Tradition in the Americas. Baruch College (Virtual): ISLA Initiative for the Study of Latin America.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Métele, mi negro jíbaro: Felipe Luciano and the Cultural Politics of Blackness in the Film Right On!”. Latina/o Studies Association 2022 Conference: Centering Blackness, Challenging Latinidad. University of Notre Dame: Latina/o Studies Association.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Out of Pietri: Radical Nuyorican Poetry, 1970s-1900s”. New York City Latin American History Workshop. Baruch College: Baruch College, CUNY| Columbia University| New York University| Stony Brook University.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “The Power of Coalition Building”. Baruch College: Black and Latino Studies.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Quilombo (Carlos Diegues, 1984): Racial Capitalism, Imperialism, Radical Black Feminism, and Impossible Archives”. Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College: Black Studies Colloquium.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “América, ¿por qué tus bibliotecas tienen goteras?”: fluidez de la identidad puertorriqueña en la antología América conceptualizada y editada por Nicole Cecilia Delgado”. LASA 2022 Congress Polarización socioambiental y rivalidad entre grandes potencias, San Francisco, USA. Virtual: Latin American Studies Association.
Robles Mejias, R. C. "Latino, Latina, Latinx: What’s in a Name?". Baruch College (Virtual): Black and Latino Studies.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “A Night Without Dogs/ Una noche sin perros: Marronage and Poetic Scholarship”. The Struggle for Freedom in La Española: Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the First Slave Revolt in the Americas. City College of New York City (Virtual): CUNY Dominican Studies.
Robles Mejias, R. C. “In the Heights, Latinx Cinema and Afro representation”. : Cine con cultura Film Festival organized by Ithaca College and Cornell University, Ithaca, NY..
Robles Mejias, R. C. “Latinx Visions Podcast: Public Scholarship and Sound Media”. : Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY.
Robles Mejias, R. (2021, February 28). “Nenén de la ruta mora and las fiestas de Santiago Apóstol in Puerto Rico”. Carnival/Carnaval! Celebrating the Great Afro-Latinx Tradition in the Americas. Virtual: Baruch College.
Robles Mejias, R. (2021, March 14). “Feeling Free: Poetics of Liberation in Raquel Salas Rivera and Carina del Valle Schorske’s Work”. North Eastern Modern Languages Association Conference 2021. NeMLA- Virtual: NeMLA.
Robles Mejias, R. (2021, April 23). “One Film Fits All: Cinegraphic Poetics in Pedro Pietri’s Condoms Poems 4 Sale”. LAS-LATINX Virtual Symposium. LaGuardia Community College-Virtual: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Robles Mejias, R. (2021, May 31). "El laboratorio cinegráfico de Pedro Pietri: crisis narrativa y fílmica en el relato Lost in the Museum of Natural History". LASA 2021 Virtual Congress: Crisis global, desigualdades y centralidad de la vida.. Virtual: Latin American Studies Association.
Robles Mejias, R. (2021, April 30). . The Past, Present, and Future of Black and Latino Studies. Virtual: Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College.
Other Scholarly Works
Robles Mejias, R. C. (2022). "El laboratorio cinegráfico de Pedro Pietri”. 80grados.net.
Robles Mejias, R. C. (2022). “NYC, Salsa Locus: Víctor Hernández Cruz Poetic Steps”. Taller Electric Marronage.
Reviews
Robles Mejias, R. (2020,December 1). “Julio Ramos/ Dylon Robbins (eds.): Guillén Landrián o el desconcierto fílmico.”. United States: Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World .
Research Currently in Progess
Robles, R.(n.d.). Maroon Underflows: Underground Poetics in Puerto Rican Diasporas. In Progress.
My book project Maroon Underflows: Underground Poetics in Puerto Rican Diasporas will analyze how Afro Boricua poets in the US from the sixties to the present challenged by colonialism and coloniality, governmental and institutional neglect, racism and cultural erasure found and created intermedial poetic practices and spaces. Within the context of Puerto Rican poetics, intermediality works to destabilize the symbolic and concrete hierarchies of the publishing industry and academic canons. I will argue that within the US literary scape, Boricua poetry represents an experimental laboratory, a subterranean cultural current. I will emphasize how audiovisual performance, conceptual arts, sonic elaborations, and remixing as well as book arts and unfaithful translation, imply poetic overflows that disrupt linguistic, disciplinary, and imperial borders.
Robles, R.(n.d.). Podcast: Latinx Visions. In Progress.
Along with Dr. Rebecca Salois from BLS and the English Department, I am developing the podcast Latinx Visions. The podcast will consist of five episodes per semester that will consistently explore distinct aspects of Latinx culture: film, television, visual arts, literature, and socio-political activism. The podcast will be a platform to expand the discussions we are having in our Latinx classes, to discuss pedagogy, and to increase the visibility and aural presence of Latinx studies at Baruch College, CUNY, and elsewhere. We have decided to focus the first season on Latina culture.
| Title | Funding Agency Sponsor | Start Date | End Date | Awarded Date | Total Funding | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expansive Poetry: Intermedial Poetics in Boricua Diasporas | PSC CUNY 53 | 07/01/2022 | 12/31/2023 | 04/15/2022 | 6000 | Funded - In Progress |
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEH Summer Institute For Higher Education Faculty: Concepts of Black Diaspora | National Endowment for the Humanities | 2022-04-08 | Out of many, one. The city of Savannah, Georgia recently erected a monument to soldiers from Saint Domingue (Haiti) who traveled to the area in 1779 to make common cause with the American Revolutionary War. Jamaican immigrants contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, the cultural movement that cross-pollinated ideas of African Americans and Afro-Caribbean creatives into a uniquely American flowering. A cause célèbre of Harlem Renaissance was support for Ethiopian resistance to Italian incursions. Decades later, with the end of quotas in 1965, Ethiopians and Nigerians would make up the largest groups of African immigrants. Tapping into Montgomery College, Howard University, and Washington, DC’s wealth of resources, and interrogating the terms “African American,” and “Diaspora,” this institute will feature scholars from a range of disciplines sharing their research with participants who will acquire insights and resources to support publication or diversification of their curricula. |
| Transformative Learning in the Humanities | Mellon Foundation | 2021-05-03 | Transformative Learning in the Humanities (TLH) is a three-year initiative supported by the Mellon Foundation. The grant supports public talks, symposia, and workshops as well as a series of intensive peer-to-peer faculty seminars for CUNY faculty at all ranks (including adjuncts) in the humanities, arts, and interpretive social sciences. The program focuses on: Equitable, creative, student-centered pedagogical research and methods designed for the rich diversity of CUNY students; Greater recognition of the importance of teaching; The role of an urgent and indispensable humanities for the future of CUNY students and a more just and equitable society. |
Department
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organizer and Moderator of the Event "Negras: A Conversation with Writer Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro" | 10/31/2020 |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEI Alliance | Committee Member | Present | |
| Black and Latino Studies Department, Curriculum Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Co-Director | Present | |
| Black and Latino Studies Department, Executive Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| Harman Writer in Residence Program | Moderator, Podcast Creator | 5/2/2024 | |
| Enrollment Management and Strategic Academic Initiatives | Faculty Mentor | 4/19/2024 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Co-director | 4/15/2024 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Co-director | 10/12/2023 | |
| Afro Latinidades Symposium Series (BRESI) | Co-principal Investigator | 6/30/2023 | |
| Harman Writer in Residence: Reading and Conversation | Moderator and Podcast creator | 10/20/2022 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Committee Member | 5/24/2022 | |
| Black and Latino Studies Department, Executive Committee | Secretary | 5/24/2022 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Moderator | 3/16/2022 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Moderator | 2/16/2022 | |
| Black Studies Colloquium | Moderator | 11/3/2021 | |
| Harman Writer In Residence: Reading and Conversation | Moderator and Podcast creator | 10/21/2021 | |
| Black and Latino Studies Department | Organizer and Moderator | 10/21/2021 | |
| Globus Seminar Series on Racism and Empire | Faculty Mentor | 4/30/2021 | |
| Mishkin Gallery's Critical Ecology Film Series | Moderator of Event: Aftershocks of Disaster: Screening and Conversation with Dr. Yarimar Bonilla | 4/30/2021 | |
| Black and Latino Studies Department | Organizer and Moderator of the Event "Negras: A Conversation with Writer Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro" | 10/9/2020 |
University
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transformative Learning in the Humanities Fellowship | Organizer and Moderator | 12/1/2021 | Present |
| Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College | Committee Member | 7/4/2022 | Present |
Professional
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, the Cine con Cultura festival, and the Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival. | Moderator | New York | United States | 10/28/2021 | 10/28/2021 | State |
Public
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afro-Latine Forum | Editor Online Publication | New York | United States | 3/1/2023 | Present | National |