Manuel del Alto

I am a PhD student at UC Irvine in the Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese. My research is focused primarily on colonial Latin America. In particular, I am interested in the employment of the Western literary practices to document Amerindian spoken language, writing, and other forms of record keeping. I completed my undergraduate studies at UC Irvine, and return for PhD work after obtaining an MA in Latin American Studies at UCLA. The main reasons behind my decision to return to Irvine were the good relationship with faculty advisors, the excellent intellectual environment of the university, especially in terms of visiting scholars, active working groups and extensive professionalization resources, and the university’s investment in diversity. In the last years, I have participated in various capacities as part of the Diverse Educational Community & Doctoral Experience (DECADE) group at UC Irvine, which addresses issues of equity both at the level of graduate education and for junior faculty. Finally, living in Irvine allows me to indulge in my hobbies: cooking, competitive swimming, and hanging out with my cat. I welcomes questions about the graduate program at UC Irvine and can be reached via email: mdelalto (at) uci.edu.