Overview
Elías Beltrán is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature. His research centers on identifying a Caribbean Chinese ‘literature’ in the Hispanophone Caribbean and the presence of the Chinese in the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo dictatorship and its enduring legacy. Among his research interests are Liberalism, empire, time, history, postcolonial theory and trauma. Elías is a fluid Spanish-speaker and fumbling along as he somewhat learns Mandarin. He is currently an Assistant Visiting Professor of Literature and Writing with the Bard Prison Initiative.