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Antonio Sotomayor

Profile picture for Antonio Sotomayor

Contact Information

313 Main Library
University of Illinois
1408 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

Associate Professor

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 AmericanistHispania NovaThe AmericasCaribbean Studies, and The International Journal of the History of Sport, among others. His next book project studies the intersections of religion, US imperialism, and sport through the YMCA in Puerto Rico and Cuba (1898-1950s). He is the Past-President of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), the principal international organization of librarians, archivist, and bookdealers with interest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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, 1898-1940s. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (under contract).

* 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

Finalist 2021 Best Anthology Award, North American Society for Sport History, NASSH.

Additional Campus Affiliations

Latin American and Caribbean Studies Librarian, University Library
Associate Professor, University Library
Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese
Associate Professor, History
Associate Professor, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Associate Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Recent Publications

Mantilla, M. E., & Sotomayor, A. (2022). Recordando a Nelly Sfeir González (Cochabamba, 1930 - Illinois, 2020). Bolivian Studies Journal, 28, 7-18. https://doi.org/10.5195/bsj.2022.259

Sotomayor, A. (2022). Blood and Paper: Connections Between the Sotomayor, González de la Cruz, Soto de las Cuevas, and Lugo Sotomayor from Puerto Rico from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries. Journal of Genetic Genealogy, 10(1), 1-33. Article 101.002. Advance online publication. https://jogg.info/article/101-002/

Sotomayor, A. (2022). Sangre y papel: Conexiones entre las familias Sotomayor, González de la Cruz y Soto de las Cuevas de Puerto Rico, siglos XVI al XVIII. HEREDITAS: Revista de Genealogía Puertorriqueña, 23(1), 37-67.

Sotomayor, A. (2021). Dispensa, endogamia y milicia: Historia social para la genealogía de algunas familias de Aguada, Puerto Rico. Siglos XVII y XVIII. Hereditas: Revista de Genealogía Puertorriqueña, 22(1), 91-119.

Sotomayor, A. (2021). El legajo 2295: Sublevación y parentelas en Puerto Rico a comienzos del siglo XVIII. HEREDITAS: Revista de Genealogía Puertorriqueña, 22(2), 54. https://f054d46f-e575-45a6-b638-a02251e4a4ae.filesusr.com/ugd/3948f8_ec268a6ddab14b81991bbd09f6add9ce.pdf

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