José Delgado-Costa

Director, Latin American Studies
Associate Professor, Modern Languages

(740) 593-1835
delgadoj@ohio.edu

Education:
Ph.D. University of Virginia, Latin American Literature
MA, Indiana University, Hispanic Literatures
BA, Indiana University, Spanish

Dr. Jose "Pepo" Delgado was born in Camuy, Puerto Rico, but moved to the United States in 1977. He completed his B.A. at the University of Indiana in 1982 with a focus on Spanish Literature and Theater. During his undergraduate years he also completed coursework in theater at the College of Santa Fe. In 1984 he earned his M.A. in Spanish from the University of Indiana. Dr. Delgado earned his Ph.D. in Spanish at the University of Virginia.

In 1991 Dr. Delgado came to teach at Ohio University, where he is now an Associate Professor of Spanish in the Modern Languages department. Dr. Delgado specializes in 20th Century Spanish-American Narrative and Theater. He is particularly interested in literature of the Southern Cone from the Post-Boom period to the contemporary, Caribbean literature, the Novela Detectivesca (Detective Novel), creative writing, and Hispanic theater. During five of the last six summers, Dr. Delgado has directed a theatrical performance at Middlebury College. From 1991 to 2001 Dr. Delgado directed “Teatro La Caterva,” at Ohio University. This Spanish-language theater project functioned as a tool for language learning, as students practiced speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Teatro La Caterva often traveled to other universities to perform.

Dr. Delgado is also the Director of Ohio University’s Puerto Rico Study Abroad program, which began in 2006, and is based in Aguadilla. During OU’s winter break students have the opportunity to spend three weeks in Puerto Rico, where they participate in this cultural immersion program that is designed for both English and Spanish speakers. The Puerto Rico Study Abroad program is very dynamic in that students have the opportunity to see most of the island, visiting 17 towns, numerous museums, and of course the beautiful beaches!

Dr. Delgado has written a book of short stories, De Locuras, Familia y sexo (Isla Negra 1996), and recently released a book of poetry entitled Sangre y canela. He has also written and staged three of his own plays: Papá (performed as part of the Bloomington Playwright’s Project); Gabriel’s Rhumba (performed at Ohio University); and Muy Leal, a historical drama based on a battle between England and Spain during La Guerra de Sucesión on the shores of Arecibo, Puerto Rico (performed in Arecibo, P.R. and at Middlebury College).

Dr. Delgado just completed his fourth play, titled Alice in Harlemland, which creates an imagined history of American artist Alice Neel’s relationship with Puerto Rican musician, José Santiago in 1930s Spanish Harlem. Dr. Delgado studied Neel’s autobiographical paintings in order to interpret her relationship with Santiago and reconstruct, through theater, what their romantic history may have entailed.