Contact Information
University of Illinois
1408 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
Biography
Antonio Sotomayor is an associate professor and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has aditional faculty appointments in the Departments of History, and Spanish and Portuguese, where he has served on various MA thesis and PhD dissertation committees. His book, The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico (winner of SALALM's 2017 José Toribio Medina Book Award), was published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2016. In 2020 he co-edited with Dr. Cesar R. Torres the book Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean (finalist in the 2021 Best Anthology Award from the North American Society for Sport History). His work appears in journals such as The Latin Americanist, Hispania Nova, The Americas, Caribbean Studies, and The International Journal of the History of Sport, among others. His next book project studies the intersections of religion, imperialism, and sport through the YMCA in Puerto Rico and Cuba (1898-1950s).
Research Interests
Cultural and Identity Politics
Nationalism and National Identity
Sports and Leisure
Spanish Caribbean History
Colonialism
Research Description
Dr. Sotomayor's research views sport as a window to observe and analyze politics, culture, and national identity in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also does research on historical genealogy and family history in Modern and Colonial Latin America.
Works in progress:
* Sotomayor, Antonio. Religious Games: The YMCA, Sport, and Imperial Statecraft in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1950s. (book length project in preparation).
* A multi-volume edition of the collection of almost 300 letters from the family of the Conde de Montemar, 1761-1799.
* Articles on Puerto Rican family history during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
Education
History, PhD, The University of Chicago
Latin American and Caribbean Studies, MA, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Counseling, MS, Indiana University Bloomington
Psychology, BA, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
Awards and Honors
Additional Campus Affiliations
Librarian of Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University Library
Associate Professor, University Library
Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese
Associate Professor, History
External Links
Recent Publications
Sotomayor, A., & Escanilla Huerta, S. (2020). Cartas para la historia: El epistolario de los Carrillo de Albornoz y Bravo de Lagunas, condes de Montemar, en el ocaso del imperio español en América, 1761-1799. Revista de Historia de América, (158), 403-420. https://doi.org/10.35424/rha.158.2020.586
Sotomayor, A. (2020). La colonia soberana: Deportes olímpicos, identidad nacional y política internacional en Puerto Rico. Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO). https://f054d46f-e575-45a6-b638-a02251e4a4ae.filesusr.com/ugd/3948f8_bfa4c18ef02b486191d2d20fe36987ce.pdf
Sotomayor, A., & Torres, C. R. (Eds.) (2020). Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean. (Sport, Culture, and Society). The University of Arkansas Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09qtw
Sotomayor, A. (2020). Sport in Latin America and the Caribbean. Oxford Bibliographies Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199766581-0234
Sotomayor, A. (2020). The Nationalist Movement and the Struggle for Freedom in Puerto Rico’s Olympic Sport. In A. Sotomayor, & C. R. Torres (Eds.), Olimpismo: The Olympic Movement in the Making of Latin America and the Caribbean (pp. 73-94). (Sports, Culture, and Society). University of Arkansas Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09qtw.8