Q&A with Aurelis Troncoso, 2024-25 Miriam Jiménez Román Fellow

The Latinx Project announces the selection of Aurelis Troncoso as the 2024-25 Miriam Jiménez Román Fellow. Named after the late Miriam Jiménez Román, a pioneer in the field of Afro-Latinx Studies, this fellowship supports post-doctoral candidates and junior scholars whose research advances the study of Afro-Latinx communities in the U.S.

Aurelis Troncoso, M.A. (they), is a doctoral candidate in the American Culture Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Their work engages with race, gender, (queer) sexuality, Afro-Latinidad in the Caribbean and the United States, Black feminist theory, queer and trans theory, and Afro-Caribbean religions. Before the start of their fellowship in September, we asked Troncoso three questions on their research and approach.

Tell us about your work and how your work contributes to contemporary Afro-Latinx studies.

My work lies at the intersections of Afro-Caribbean studies, Afro-Diasporic Religions, and Black queer feminisms. My dissertation “Queering Orishas” utilizes decolonial feminist critical ethnography to document the experiences of contemporary LGBTQ Santería and Espiritismo practitioners in Puerto Rico. “Queering Orishas” makes visible how practitioners navigate their embodied subjectivities against queerphobia and transphobia within and beyond sacred spaces. In this juncture, my research advances Afro-Latinx studies by centering Afro-Diasporic religions and Black queer and trans* ontological knowledge production. Writing from a place of sacred urgency, my work is an offering to femmes, non-binary and LGBTQ initiates who carry this religion on their shoulders, who unapologetically embody their Blackness, queerness and transness with all its divine contradictions, as testaments of a decolonial spiritual praxis.

What ideas do you have to enrich the NYU community?

I envision my praxis to build bridges within and outside of academia, in that vein, I am very excited to build within the NYU community and beyond– from the Bronx to Washington Heights to Brooklyn. I look forward to sparking conversations around Afro-Latinidad, queer and trans* embodiment, Afro-Latinx spirituality, and underlining colonial beliefs on race, gender and sexuality impacting our shared quotidian experiences. Furthermore, holding space for queer and trans voices, pushing boundaries within our intersectional communities, and evolving as a collective.    

What does it mean to be named this year's Miriam Jiménez Román Fellow?

I am deeply honored to be a part of the Miriam Jiménez Román Fellowship legacy. I remember the feeling of visibility I felt in my chest and stomach when I first came across the Afro-Latin@ Reader over fifteen years ago. A similar feeling came upon me when I learned that I am this year’s Miriam Jiménez Román Fellow. While I did not have the opportunity to meet the powerful Miriam Jiménez Román, her scholarly activism and ground-breaking knowledge production gave language to my own experiences as an Afro-Dominican growing up in the Bronx. MJR’s work made me feel seen, and I all I can hope is that my work makes fellow Afro-Latinx femmes, non-binary, and trans kin feel heard and seen. I believe my commitment to center Black Latinx queer and trans* experiences within Afro-Diasporic religions in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the United States is ushering a vital and necessary component of Afro-Latinx embodied knowledge production. 

I am also joining a brilliant legacy of MJR fellows, whom I consider co-conspirators in creating a more liberated world, and whose work has inspired me in times I have needed most (thank you Dra. Zamora and Dr. López Oro). May we continue to push the limits of Latinidad, may we continue to take up space in our Black queer bodies, and may we continue to honor the legacy of scholar-ancestras like Miriam Jiménez Román. Ibaé. 

—–

About Aurelis Troncoso

Aurelis Troncoso, Ph.D. (they), holds a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Troncoso’s research focuses on the transnational experiences of femmes, non-binary and LGBTQ+ practitioners of Santeria and Espiritismo in Puerto Rico and how practitioners negotiate race, nationality, queerness and transness within sacred spaces. Their work also extends to Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Dr. Troncoso is a member of the Diaspora Solidarities Lab, a multi-institutional Black feminist partnership that supports solidarity work in Black and Ethnic studies led by Drs. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez and Jessica Marie Johnson, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. They currently are the Miriam Jiménez Román post-doctoral fellow at New York University, their work here centers Black Latinx queer and trans* experiences within Afro-Diasporic religions, ushering a vital and necessary component of Afro-Latinx embodied knowledge production. Dr. Troncoso joins a legacy of scholar-practitioners committed to centering Blackness, queerness and spirituality in a larger effort to advance Afro-Latinx studies, queer and trans studies, and religious studies.

About the Latinx Project at NYU

The Latinx Project at New York University explores and promotes U.S. Latinx Art, Culture and Scholarship through creative and interdisciplinary programs. Founded in 2018, it serves as a platform to foster critical public programming and for hosting artists and scholars. The Latinx Project is especially committed to examining and highlighting the multitude of Latinx identities as central to developing a more inclusive and equitable vision of Latinx Studies.

Supporters

The 2024-25 Miriam Jiménez Román Fellowship is made possible with support from the Mellon Foundation.