Bio
Elisa Rizo’s scholarly interests focus on Afro-Hispanic studies, studying ethnic identities within Hispanic cultures across Spain, Equatorial Guinea, and Latin America. She has secured notable external funding, including a Spring 2025 Fulbright Fellowship, and is involved in two United Nations-funded projects: “BLACK SPAIN” (2023-2027) and AFROIBERIA (2020-2023). At ISU, she was named an LAS Deans Emerging Leader (2019-2020) and has delivered invited talks across Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Her notable works include multiple co-edited books, such as Afro-Iberia (2023) and Receptions of the Classics in the African Diaspora of the Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds (2016), and high-impact journal articles like “Leandro Mbomio, the Black Picasso” (2024).
Courses Taught (Past & Present)
- Spanish 4400 (Contemporary Afro-Hispanic Theatre: Latin America, Spain and Africa)
- Spanish 4010 (Advanced Grammar and Composition)
- Spanish 3700 (Cultures of Agriculture in the Hispanic World: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe)
- Spanish 3330 (Contemporary Latin American Literature)
- Spanish 3300 (Survey of Spanish Literature to 1700)
- Spanish 3240 (Latin America Today online and face2face formats)
- Spanish 3230 (Spain Today)
- Spanish 3220 (Latin American Civilization online format)
- Spanish 3210 (Spanish Civilization and Culture)
- Spanish 3140 (Introduction to Reading Hispanic Texts)
- Spanish 3040 (Spanish for Business and the Professions)
- Spanish 303b (Conversation and Grammar for the Professions)
- Spanish 3010 (Spanish Grammar and Composition)
Research Areas
19th-21st century narrative, theatre, plastic arts, artivism, and circulation of official identity discourses in Equatorial Guinea, the African Diaspora in Spain, and the African Diaspora in Latin America
Selected Publications & Awards
Coedited Books
- 2023 Aixelà-Cabré, and Rizo, Elisa. Afro-Iberia (1850-1975): Enfoques teóricos y huellas africanas y magrebíes en la península ibérica. Barcelona: Bellaterra Edicións (Biblioteca de Estudios Africanos).
- 2016 Rizo, Elisa. and Madeleine Henry. Receptions of the Classics in the African Diaspora of the Hispanophone and Lusophone Worlds: Atlantis Otherwise. Lanham: Lexington Books Rowman & Littlefield.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
- 2025 Rizo, Elisa. “Arte para salir del Ajiaco: Roberto Diago y René Peña.” Afro-Hispanic Review. Special Issue on Afro-Cuban Legacies. Sklowdoska, Cordones-Cook, eds. (Invited, Peer Reviewed). Accepted and Forthcoming.
- 2024 Rizo, Elisa. “¿Negritud hispanista? La ambivalencia discursiva en torno a la carrera artística de Leandro Mbomio en la esfera pública española.” Personas afrodescendientes en la Península Ibérica ayer y hoy. Julia Burst and Danae Gallo, eds. De Gruyter, Pages: 207-228. (Invited, Peer Reviewed) (October 2024)
- 2024 Rizo, Elisa: “Leandro Mbomio, the Black Picasso: Spanish State Propaganda, Blackness, and Neocolonialism in Equatorial Guinea (1960-1979)” Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies. 47:7, 1456-1477, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2023.2295481 (Invited, Peer Reviewed)
External Funding
- 2025 Fulbright-Spanish Superior Council of Scientific Investigations Fellowship: “Blackness in Hispanidad: State-Designed Identity Discourses and Black Collectives’ Responses in Spain, Cuba, and Equatorial Guinea (1808-1978)” January-May of 2025. (Awarded)
International
- 2023- 2027 I+D Project: BLACK SPAIN: Africans, Maghribs and Latin Americans: Blackness, Resistance and De-racialization of Elites 1808 -1975 IP: Yolanda Aixelà Cabré.
- 2020- 2023 I+D Project: “Africanos y magrebíes en la Península Ibérica (1850-1975). Una historia en los márgenes de España y Portugal” (AFROIBERIA) (PID2019-108397GB-I00) (junio 2020- mayo 2023) (MINECO/FEDER, UE). IP: Yolanda Aixelà Cabré.
Internal Funding and Awards
- 2025 FPDA (One semester (Fall) paid leave)
- 2019-2021 LAS Deans Emerging Leaders ($25,000)
- 2018 LAS-Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Initiative (2-course Buyout)
- 2016 Cassling Outstanding Achievement in Teaching Award ($6,000)
Outside the university
Cooking, Hiking and Reading