Victor Sierra Matute
Asst Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: Modern Languages & Comp Lit
Areas of expertise: Early Modern Transoceanic Hispanophone; Material Culture; History of the Senses; Comparative Imperialisms; Sound Studies
Email Address: victor.sierramatute@baruch.cuny.edu
- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
Víctor Sierra Matute (PhD University of Pennsylvania) is an Assistant Professor of Spanish. His research and teaching interests include early modern Iberian and colonial cultural studies, material culture, visual and performing arts, transoceanic studies, and the history of emotions.
Sierra Matute is currently working on a book-length manuscript provisionally entitled A Sense of Empire: Perceptual and Material Foundations of Early Modern Iberian Colonialism. Preliminary research towards this project has been funded by fellowships and grants from the Huntington Library, PSC-CUNY, the Cervantes Society of America, and the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry. He is the editor of Soundscapes of the Early Modern Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds (Routledge, 2024) and the forthcoming special issue "The Past Awakened: Cultural Reimagination in the Global Hispanophone" (Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies).
Sierra Matute has served the profession as the PMLA Advisory Committee member in the field of “Spanish, pre- 1800” (2020-2023). Additionaly, he has been elected a member of the executive committee for the Global Hispanophone Forum and the Program Committee of the Modern Language Association. Before joining Baruch, he taught at New York University, Haverford College, and the University of Pennsylvania. Besides Spanish language classes, Sierra Matute has offered courses on early modern and colonial cultures, literary clubs and academies, Spanish performance and theater, and contemporary representations of the past.
Education
Ph.D., Spanish and Portuguese, University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Certificate, College and University Teaching, University of Pennsylvania
M.A., Spanish and Portuguese, University of Pennsylvania
M.A., Literary Heritage Recovery and Research, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
B.A., Filología Española, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | SPA | 4999 | Special Studies in Spanish |
| Spring 2024 | SPA | 5000 | Independent Study Spanish I |
| Fall 2023 | SPA | 3001 | Intensv Intermediate Spanish I |
| Fall 2023 | SPA | 4150 | Cervantes |
| Fall 2023 | SPA | 3002 | Intensive Int Spa II |
| Fall 2023 | SPA | 5000 | Independent Study Spanish I |
| Fall 2023 | SPA | 5001 | Independent Study Spanish II |
| Spring 2023 | SPA | 5000 | Independent Study Spanish I |
| Spring 2023 | SPA | 3002 | Intensive Int Spa II |
| Spring 2023 | SPA | 4121 | Modern Spanish Drama |
| Fall 2022 | SPA | 4117 | Span Literat of Golden Age |
| Fall 2022 | SPA | 3001 | Intensv Intermediate Spanish I |
| Fall 2022 | SPA | 4181 | History of Spanish Literature |
Books
Sierra Matute, V. (2025). Soundscapes of the Early Modern Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds. Abingdon and New York, Routledge.
Sierra Matute, V. A Sense of Empire: Perceptual and Material Foundations of Early Modern Iberian Colonialism. In Progress.
Journal Articles
(2025). Estrategias e imaginarios barrocos en La sombra de don Quijote (2014) de Patricio Clarey y Lara Fuentes. Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies, 9(1).
(2025). Public Monuments and the Colonial Legacies of the “Tongue of Cervantes”. Romance Studies, 43(1).
(2025). Syncretic Tarot, Colonial Imprints: Weaving Past, Present, and Future in Cartas Philippinensis (2016). Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 29. In Progress.
(2025). Was Sor Juana a Sphinx? Monstrosity and the Poetics of Dedication in Her Transoceanic Enigmas (1695). Latin American Research Review, 60(4).
(2024). Bolulu, Bolulo, Bolula, Bululú: A Speculative Approach to the Early Modern Single Performer. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 101(1). 23-38.
(2023). Material Methodologies in Early Modern Iberian Treatises. Romanic Review, 113(3). 237-258.
(2021). El giro socioliterario en los estudios del Barroco hispánico. Philobiblion: Revista de Literaturas Hispánicas, 111-123.
Sierra Matute, V., & García Pérez, M. (2021). Formas de sociabilidad literaria: Siglos XVI y XVII. Philobiblion: Revista de Literaturas Hispánicas, 14. 7-20.
(2019). Letra y sonido en las estructuras epistemológicas de la Primera parte del Parnaso antártico (1608). Entre Caníbales: Revista de Literatura, 3(11). 159-181.
(2011). Historia del Códice Daza. Manuscrt.cao, 11. 1-12.
(2009). Tomás Tamayo de Vargas y las cartas al cronista Andrés de Uztarroz. Voz y Letra: Revista de Literatura, 20(2). 137-161.
Book Chapters
(2025). Guamán Poma's Ecocentric Ethos in Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno. Plants and Animals in Latin American Cultures Gainesville, FL. University of Florida Press.
Sierra Matute, V. (2025). The Social Life of Sounds in the Early Modern Iberian Empires. Soundscapes of the Early Modern Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds Abingdon and New York. Routledge.
(2025). The Spatial Display of Poetry in Recibimiento al obispo Pimentel (1629). The Spatial Turn in the Literature and Art of Early Modern Spain Toronto. University of Toronto Press.
(2025). The Quixotic Sensorium. Cervantine Futures: Theorizing Cervantes after the Critical Turn Nashville. Vanderbilt University Press.
Sierra Matute, V. (2021). Humors and Rumors: Sonic Viscerality in Juan Pérez de Montalbán’s La mayor confusión. Pornographic Sensibilities: Imagining Sex and the Visceral in Premodern and Early Modern Spanish Cultural Production Abingdon and New York. Routledge.
Presentations
Sierra Matute, V. (2024, February 17). Voices from Beyond: Úrsula de Jesús’s Aural Encounters in Colonial Perú. Guest Speaker: Mediated Spiritualities Colloquium. Princeton University: Department of Comparative Literature and Humanities Council.
Sierra Matute, V. (2024, November 15). Local Sounds, Global Frequencies: The Coloniality of Early Modern Soundscapes. Guest Speaker: New CUNY Voices Lecture Series. The Graduate Center: Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures.
Sierra Matute, V. (2023, November 4). Urban and Rural Soundscapes in Antonio de Guevara’s Menosprecio de corte y alabanza de aldea (1539). Guest Speaker: Medieval and Early Modern Soundscapes: An Interdisciplinary Workshop. Cornell University: Departments of Music, German, and Romance Studies.
Sierra Matute, V. (2022, February 25). Colonial Cervantes: Addressing Monuments of Don Quixote in the Spanish-Speaking World. Guest speaker. Spelman College: Department of World Languages and Cultures.
Sierra Matute, V. (2024, April 30). Early Modern Whitewashing: From La Academia de los Nocturnos to El negro del cuerpo blanco. Guest speaker: Recovering Black Performance: An International Colloquium. Yale University: Bulletin of the Comediantes.
Sierra Matute, V. (2021, February 11). Los Enigmas de Sor Juana: una poética del intercambio transatlántico. Guest speaker. Hamilton College: Hispanic Studies Department.
Sierra Matute, V. (2022, October 15). Spiritual Mediumship and the Soundscape of Purgatory in Úrsula de Jesús’s Diario espiritual (1647-1661). Guest speaker: Latin American Literary Aurality. Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
Other Scholarly Works
Sierra Matute, V. (2025). Special issue: The Past Awakened: Cultural Reimagination in the Global Hispanophone. Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. 28
In Progress.Sierra Matute, V. (2025). Academic translation: A la usanza romana: Spanish Poetry and alla spagnola Music in Early Modern Rome (1624) [translation from Sebastián León, “‘A la usanza romana’: Poesía, teatro y música alla spagnola en la embajada española de la Roma barroca (1624)”]. Soundscapes of the Early Modern Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds. 123-136.
Sierra Matute, V. (2022). Academic translation: Divas negras, feminismos negros: el “habla de negros” y el cuerpo de las mujeres negras en Lope de Rueda [translation from Nicholas R. Jones, “Black Divas, Black Feminisms: The Black Female Body and Habla de Negros in Lope de Rueda”]. Mora: Revista del Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género. 28157-182.
Sierra Matute, V., & Garcia, M. (2021). Special issue: Formas de sociabilidad literaria: Siglos XVI y XVII. Philobiblion. 147-74.
Reviews
Sierra Matute, V. (2024,January 1). Review of Mary E. Barnard, A Poetry of Things: The Material Lyric in Habsburg Spain. Hispanófila.
Sierra Matute, V. (2023,September 1). Review of The Gastronomical Arts in Spain: Food and Etiquette, ed. Frederick A. de Armas and James Mandrell. Cervantes: Journal of the Cervantes Society of America.
Sierra Matute, V. (2023,January 1). Review of David Castillo and William Egginton. What Would Cervantes Do? Navigating Post-Truth with Spanish Baroque Literature. Cervantes: Journal of the Cervantes Society of America.
Sierra Matute, V. (2022,September 1). Review of Nicole Legnani, The Business of Conquest: Empire, Love, and Law in the Atlantic World. Hispanic Review.
Sierra Matute, V. (2021,September 1). Review of Rosilie Hernández, Immaculate Conceptions: The Power of the Religious Imagination in Early Modern Spain. Hispanófila.
Sierra Matute, V. (2020,September 1). Review of The Rise of Spanish American Poetry 1500-1700: Literary and Cultural Transmission in the New World, ed. Rodrigo Cacho Casal and Imogen Choi. Bulletin of Spanish Studies.
| Title | Funding Agency Sponsor | Start Date | End Date | Awarded Date | Total Funding | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundscapes of the Early Modern Iberian Empires | PSC-CUNY 54 | 07/01/2023 | 06/30/2024 | 04/18/2023 | 3500 | Funded - In Progress |
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fellow | Faculty Fellow Publication Program (FFPP CUNY) | 2023-11-01 | This CUNY-wide initiative assists full-time untenured CUNY faculty with writing projects. |
| Research Award | Cervantes Society of America | 2022-01-10 | Research award dedicated to supporting the publication of an academic article focused on the works of Cervantes. |
| Excellence in Creativity and Innovation | College Houses and Academic Services, University of Pennsylvania | 2019-04-01 | This award recognizes exceptional leadership within the College House system, honoring individuals who demonstrate outstanding creativity in developing innovative programs, fostering community, and enhancing student life through dynamic and original initiatives. |
| Excellence in Teaching | Department of Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania | 2017-04-01 | Award that recognizes outstanding pedagogical achievements and contributions to the department through innovative instruction, student engagement, and commitment to academic excellence. |
| Fellow | Huntington Library | 2017-01-01 | This initiative is dedicated to supporting research and publication projects related to the study of their archival collections. |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLCL Faculty Meetings | Secretary | 5/1/2023 | |
| Search Committee, tenure-track Assistant Professor in Latin American Literature and Culture | Committee Member | 4/30/2023 | |
| Search Committee, Lecturer Doctoral Schedule (Spanish and French) | Committee Member | 4/30/2022 |
University
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weissman Representative to the Zicklin School of Business | Committee Member | 8/1/2023 | Present |
Professional
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program Committee, Modern Language Association | Committee Member | New York | United States | 9/1/2023 | Present | International |
| Global Hispanophone Forum, Modern Language Association | Committee Member | New York | United States | 1/1/2023 | Present | International |
| Penn State University Press | Reviewer, Book | Pennsylvania | United States | 8/31/2023 | 12/31/2023 | International |
| PMLA | Committee Member | New York | United States | 1/1/2020 | 12/31/2023 | International |
Public
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V Cervantes Symposium of the Northeast | Program Organizer | New York | United States | 12/9/2022 | 12/9/2022 | International |