Kristian Ayala

I am a literary critic and rhetorician specializing in US Latinx literature. In my dissertation, I argue that Latinx writers between the World Wars strategically identified with criollos, or American-born Spaniards during the colonial era. For these writers, invoking criollo origins was a persuasive rhetorical strategy, one that evolved rather than disappeared at mid century. Uncovering this long-lost rhetorical device, I continue the field’s recovery of forgotten texts and synthesize recent scholarship on Latinx cultural pasts. This project is currently titled Latino Hispanophiles and the Pragmatic Imagination.

Beyond my research, I've taught courses on liberal-arts critical thinking and in traditional literary studies, including on genres of the novel and surveys of American literature. With two colleagues I coordinate Generaciones, an interdepartmental reading group in Latinx studies. Outside of the classroom, I serve as a mentor for the Vice Provost of Graduate Education's EDGE program, an initiative designed to promote equity and inclusion. Before coming to Stanford, I taught high school in Chicago and New York City.