Dr. Amado José Láscar
Dr. Amado José Láscar was born in Santiago, Chile in 1956. Since 2002, he has been an assistant professor of the Modern Languages Department and the Latin American Studies Program at Ohio University. His specializations are 19th Century to Contemporary Latin American Literature and Cultural Studies, Indigenous Literature and Cultural Studies, the Theory and Ideology of the Nation-State, and the Theory of War.
His academic background includes: a Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of Oregon (2002), an M.A. with honors from University of New South Wales, Australia (1997), two Bachelor degrees in Accounting (1984) and Aesthetics (1989) from the University of Chile and la Católica, and four poetry books published; Penúltima Década (1983), Traspuerta (1984), Balneario(1987), and La Enorme Trompa del C-5 (2007). He has also published literary and scholarly works through books, articles, and journal publications, and has done some work with documentary films. Currently, he is writing two books; Onces: Colonialidad, Democracia & Pacificación (Elevens: Colonial issues, Democracy & Pacification) and Manfritz in the West. During his academic career at OU, he has received awards such as: the Faculty Development Award (2003), the Arts and Sciences Jr. Faculty Endowment Award (2003), and the Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica, Socio Honorario (2007).
As an LAS professor, he believes this program provides fundamental interdisciplinary elements for understanding Latin America’s interrelations and the contemporary problems affecting each country. He thinks that the quality courses throughout the disciplines offer possibilities for both intellectual preparation and commitment, as well as awareness in favor of Latin America. As an LAS program faculty member, he has plenty of space for researching, teaching, and learning. He believes that teaching is the ability to express articulated knowledge, where both empathy and reciprocal learning are fundamental educational aspects. He conceives education as a social tool for collective changes and one of the key elements to solve inequality and injustice among countries and states, and that education in our times should be the deconstruction of acquired knowledge in order to rebuild it.
As a literature specialist, he believes that by studying, it is possible to decode cultural and emblematic symbols inherent in every society. Based on this, his humanistic approach teaches the cultural codes of Latin American countries and the decoding of the marvelous reality of their cultures. European and American authors, along with the distinguished Latin American literature tradition, have influenced his aesthetic preferences. (Tatiana Argüello)