Languages and Literatures of Spanish & Portuguese
Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin
2014
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Faculty
Faculty
Eliseo Jacob
Senior Lecturer
Department/Office
- World Languages & Cultures
School/College
- College of Arts & Sciences
Additional Positions
-
Certified WAC Instructor
-
COAS Honors Program
Biography
Eliseo Jacob is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges digital humanities, race, and cultural expression across Brazil, Latin America, and the African diaspora. His research focuses on how popular culture—such as hip-hop, artivismo (art activism), and digital media—serves as a tool for political engagement, community building, and transnational dialogue among marginalized communities.
He earned his Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese from The University of Texas at Austin, developing research on literary and cultural productions framed by citizenship, masculinity, and public space in São Paulo’s urban periphery. His scholarship spans Afro-Brazilian literature, poetry, and urban cultural production, analyzing how artists and activists use creative expression as a form of resistance to systemic inequality. His work draws on postcolonial theory and racial justice to examine social movements across Latin America that center marginalized identities through the cultural arts
Eliseo Jacob has received prestigious awards such as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award to Brazil and a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), supporting his research on race, digital media, and urban activism in Latin America. He has presented at international conferences including the Latin American & Caribbean Digital Humanities Symposium and the International Conference on Transcultural Hip-Hop, and has contributed to digital archives and platforms highlighting Afro-Latin American art and activism.
At Howard University, he teaches courses on race, citizenship, and technology in Latin American literature and culture, and mentors students in using digital tools to study global Black cultural production. His ongoing projects explore the public sphere in Latin American urban culture, the political role of poetry and literature in peripheral communities, and the integration of digital methods in humanities pedagogy. Through his teaching and research, he fosters connections between scholarship and activism, emphasizing the intersections of race, identity, and technology in the contemporary world
Education & Expertise
Education
Luso-Brazilian Literature & Culture
M.A.
The University of Texas at Austin
2009
Latin American Studies
B.A.
The University of Texas at Austin
2007
Expertise
Latin American Urban Cultural Studies
20th-21st Century Latin American Literary & Cultural Productions
Digital Humanities
Public Sphere
Urban Space
Academics
Academics
Courses
Digital Humanities:
- Digital Humanities Experiential Learning Series
- City Scapes: Urban Spaces & Afro-Brazilian Cultures
- The Afro-Brazilian Experience through Media
Latin American Studies:
- Afro-Brazilian Writers
- Urban Literature in Brazil
- Afro-Brazilian Film
- Brazilian Hip Hop
Foreign Language:
- Advanced Grammar & Composition (Portuguese)
- Oral Expressions (Portuguese)
- Portuguese I, II, III, IV
Experiential Learning Series
Afro-Brazilian International Immersion Series, COAS Honors Program, 2023-2024
Brazilian Hip Hop Series, Department of World Languages & Cultures, Fall 2020
Accomplishments
Accomplishments
ACLS HBCU Faculty Grant (2024-25)
Dr. Jacob was awarded an inaugural American Council of Learned Society (ACLS) HBCU Faculty Grant. to develop the digital humanities project Afro-Artivismo: Activist Cultural Practices in Urban Spaces. The project interrogates the dynamic relationships between race, space, and citizenship and uses the Scalar digital platform to create an interactive, multimodal site for users to better understand the role of the arts as a form of community engagement in addressing state violence and preserving cultural practices in the working class, outskirt communities of São Paulo, Brazil.
ACLS Fellowship (2022-23)
Dr. Jacob was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship for the 2022-23 academic year. He will use the fellowship to complete his monograph Masculinidades Marginais: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in São Paulo, which uses the theoretical framework of counterpublics to analyze contemporary literary productions from the city's historically marginalized communities with a focus on masculinity and race in urban settings.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award (2021-22)
Dr. Jacob was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for the 2021-22 academic year to conduct research in Brazil. He will conduct a research project on writing communities in the urban periphery of São Paulo and collaborate with faculty at the University of São Paulo.
Publications and Presentations
Publications and Presentations
Digital Humanities Projects
HU Você Sabe!: Exploring Portuguese at Howard University
Theater of the Sacred: Resistance in the Zona Sul