Ninel Valderrama Negrón

Ninel Valderrama Negrón graduated with a degree in History at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and completed another Master's degree in Art History at UNAM in 2013. Her master's thesis won the University Award for best research. She finished her MA and PhD at Duke University in the United States.

She participated in the Getty Foundation's Unfolding Latin America program, an experience that connected her with art history and history study programs at other universities in Latin America (IDAES in Buenos Aires, UERJ in Rio de Janeiro, Universidad San Francisco in Quito and Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá).

Her research aims to expand and strengthen Global Hispanophone Studies by acknowledging Spain’s long history of colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines. Studying the link between Latin America and Asia necessitates diving into different geographical networks and questioning popularly held notions regarding the historical chronology of nation-building processes in Latin America.. Her publications aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the shifting contours of race relations, politics, and cultural production in the Americas, including the various diasporas. Taking a closer look at communities that share the Pacific Ocean can change how race and identity are constructed in former Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Combining archival research with digital humanities throughout her research, she argues for the importance of acknowledging the role that the Asian and African diasporas played in the emergence of the Americas by expanding current notions of race (mestizaje).

Valderrama-Negrón has received several grants and fellowships from organizations including the Getty Foundation, the Thoma Foundation, the Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art, and Duke’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.