Specializations

  • Hispanic linguistics
  • LGBTQ+ studies
  • Latin American and Latinx studies

Research Area

Biography

Ernesto Cuba (él/he) is a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics at The Graduate Center (CUNY). He obtained his BA in Linguistics and a diploma in Gender Studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. His area of interest is the study of language, gender and sexuality in Spanish-speaking communities. The subject of his doctoral research is the discursive and linguistic practices of Féminas, a transgender activist group based in Lima, Peru. Ernesto has published articles, book chapters, guidelines, and essays on gender and language in Spanish, English, and French languages. During the 2024-2025 academic year, he will work as a UW postdoctoral scholar on the project titled “Developing a Spanish-language Homosaurus: Using Multi-language Linked Data to Enhance LGBTQ Resource Discoverability.” Ernesto will bring his expertise in sociolinguistics, Hispanic dialectology, and LGBTQ+ lexicography to the Spanish-language Homosaurus project.

Education

  • Ph D, Hispanic Linguistics, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2024
  • Mphil, Hispanic Linguistics, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 2021
  • Diploma, Gender Studies, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2013
  • BA, Linguistics, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2010

Awards

  • Honorable Mention: First Linguistic and Cultural Sound Recording Lab - WikiAcción Perú, 2024
  • Dissertation Fellowship - The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2022
  • Doctoral Student Research Grant Award: Round 17 - The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2022
  • Louise Lennihan Arts and Sciences Grant - The Futures Initiative, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2021
  • Summer Research Travel Fellowship - Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2021
  • IGALA 9 USA-Based Scholar Travel Grant - National Science Foundation, 2016
  • Presentation Travel Grant - Hispanic & Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2016
  • Summer Research Travel Fellowship - Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 2016
  • Research Initiation Support Program Award - Academic Research Directorate, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, 2009

Publications and Contributions

Presentations

  • La apuesta glotofeminista, una agenda de investigación (2024)
    Open lecture: Cátedra Libre en Glotopolítica (facilitated by Daniel Rudas), Instituto Caro y Cuervo - Bogotá, Colombia
  • Panel of Lengua y Género (2024)
    III Congreso Anual del Instituto Cervantes de Nueva York: "Lengua e identidad: Hablantes, Tradición y Cultura" - New York, NY
  • Productivity and Self-Care in Alexandra R. DeRuiz's "Crucé la frontera en tacones" (2024)
    2024 Latinx Studies Association Conference, Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ
  • "I rename me after her": Popular feminine-sounding names among transgender women in Peru (2023)
    CSSN 2023: Canadian Society for the Study of Names 57th Annual Meeting, York University - Ontario, Canada
  • "New" morphemes and gender identities in tension: Fragmentations and divergences in metadiscourses about gender-inclusive language in the Peruvian activist scene (2023)
    Gender-Neutral / Fair/ Inclusive / Nonbinary/ Non-sexist languages and their dis/contents seminar, University of Chicago, Center in Paris - Paris, France
  • "Why [Insert Name]?" Renaming Strategies in a Community of Transgender Women of the City of Lima, Peru (2023)
    ASN 2023: American Name Society Annual Meeting - Virtual
  • Is there a queer language in Peru? Reflections on empirical data and metadiscursive representations of the lexicon of Peruvian gay men and transgender women (2023)
    2023 Language, Gender, and Sexuality: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives Conference, University of Helsinki - Helsinki, Finland
  • "¿Con qué palabra te identificas: transgénero o travesti?" Elección léxica de género, discursos públicos activistas y prácticas lingüísticas comunitarias entre mujeres trans de Lima, Perú (2022)
    Instituto de Lingüística de la Universidad de Buenos Aires - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • "¿Existe una 'lengua trans' en Lima?" Actitudes lingüísticas y metapragmáticas entre activistas trans femeninas de Perú (2022)
    Semana UNIPE Virtual 2022, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional - Virtual
  • "To You, What Does It Mean to Talk Like a Woman?" Ideologies of Gendered Language among Transgender Women in the City of Lima, Peru (2022)
    Sociolinguistics Lunch Lecture Series, The Graduate Center (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • "Transgénero" or "Travesti"? Gender Label Choice in a Community of Transgender Women of the City of Lima, Peru (2022)
    2022 Annual Society for Linguistic Anthropology Conference, University of Colorado Boulder - Boulder, CO
  • Activismo Trans Femenino y Lenguaje Inclusivo / No Binario en Lima, Perú (2022)
    Course: Advanced Spanish: Identidad, Género y Nación (taught by César Romero), Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Princeton University - Princeton, NJ
  • Activismo Trans y Reforma Lingüística No Binaria en Lima, Perú: Una Alianza Problemática (2022)
    Quinto Congreso Latinoamericano de Glotopolítica - Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Different Approaches to Naming Gender-Inclusive Language in Spanish: A Data-Driven Contribution to the Transnational Debate (2022)
    International Conference “Attitudes towards gender-inclusive language. A multinational perspective”, Queen Mary University of London - Virtual
  • El lenguaje inclusivo como oportunidad epistemológica en la escritura académica (2022)
    Course: Más allá del concepto de lengua: Introducción a la investigación glotopolítica (taught by Daniel Rudas), Seminario Andrés Bello, Instituto Caro y Cuervo - Bogotá, Colombia
  • Lenguaje Inclusivo en Español (2022)
    Course: Language and Identity in the Spanish-Speaking World (taught by Lydia Manatou), Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Fordham University - New York, NY
  • Lingüística feminista y activismo lingüístico en Latinoamérica (2022)
    Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba - Córdoba, Argentina
  • Experiences from the First Spanish Feminist Linguistics Edith-a-thon (2021)
    Digitorium 2021 Conference, University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • Feminismo y Apuesta Glotopolítica: Contexto y Nuevas Direcciones (2021)
    Course: Criticism and Critical Documentation: Raciolingüística y las Fronteras (taught by Claudia Holguín Mendoza), Department of Hispanic Studies of the University of California Riverside - Riverside, CA
  • Glotopolítica de la Lingüística Descriptiva en el Perú durante el Siglo XX. Una Nota Especial sobre la Figura de Martha Hildebrant (2021)
    International Seminar: Español de América (taught by Soledad Chávez Fajardo), Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad de Chile - Santiago, Chile
  • Indisciplinadxs: Construyendo una Lingüística Feminista desde Latinoamérica (2021)
    12th Annual Virtual Graduate Student Conference of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Colorado Boulder - Boulder, CO
  • On Transgender Speakers of Peruvian Spanish (2021)
    Workshop on Cross-cultural Sociolinguistics, University of Cologne and New York University - Cologne, Germany
  • Panel of Modos de representaciones drag (2021)
    El fuego drag de Yma Súmac, Centro Cultural de España - Lima, Peru
  • Sexismo como Problema Transnacional: Inclusão em Otras Línguas (2021)
    Course: Ativismo Linguístico, Gênero e Sexualidade: Perspectivas Históricas e Problemas Atuais (taught by Rodrigo Borba), Programa Interdisciplinar de Linguística Aplicada of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • The Theoretical Tenets of Queer Linguistics: The Case of Mexican Online Platforms (2021)
    LinguA3 – Lectures on Language of Leibniz Universität Hannover - Hannover, Germany
  • Panel of Lenguaje Inclusivo, Feminismo y Sexualidades Disidentes at the Escuela de Verano (2020)
    Lengua y acción política en el siglo XXI, University of Chile - Santiago, Chile
  • Panel of Todes: La construcción de la realidad a partir de la palabra at Plaza Tomada (2020)
    Teatro La Plaza - Miraflores, Peru
  • Panel of Género, Lengua y Traducción (2019)
    Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas - Santiago de Surco, Peru
  • Panel of Language and Transgender Identity. What is Transgender Language, and Who Uses it? (2019)
    Swarthmore College - Rhode Island
  • Panel of Sociolinguistics (2019)
    XX Diálogo de Estudiantes de Lingüística, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú - San Miguel, Peru
  • Haiga: Historia Política de un 'Barbarismo' (2018)
    Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2018, University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
  • Hashtagging Sexism in Twitter: The (Non) Feminist Use of #Onvre (2018)
    25th Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, Rhode Island College - Providence, Rhode Island
  • Higiene Verbal a la Peruana: El Caso de Haiga (2018)
    9th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, Queens College (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • Panel of Society and Bilingualism (2018)
    9th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, Queens College (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • When YouTube Becomes the Classroom: Language Ideologies in Online Spanish Language Lessons (2018)
    Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2018, University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
  • Describing the Spanish(es) of America in the Twentieth Century: Linguistic Science and the Geopolitics of Standardization in the Modern History of Spanish (2017)
    2017 Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference, New York University and CUNY Graduate Center - New York, NY
  • Muyertz: Una Innovación Lingüística Queer en Redes Sociales Mexicanas (2017)
    22nd Annual Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages Graduate Student Conference, The Graduate Center (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • Norma Culta y Guerra Fría. Panamericanismo, Panhispanismo y el Instituto Caro y Cuervo de Colombia (2017)
    Tercer Congreso Latinoamericano de Glotopolítica - Hannover, Germany
  • Panel of Language and Gender (2017)
    2017 Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference, New York University and CUNY Graduate Center - New York, NY
  • Teaching Spanish via Youtube videos (2017)
    4th Annual Language, Linguistics and Life Conference - Philadelphia, PA
  • Anti-Language Practices of Transgender Women and Gay Men in Peru: The Case of El Hungarito (2016)
    9th International Gender and Language Association Conference, City University of Hong Kong - Hong Kong
  • Compañeras Lesbianas Latinoamericanas: El Papel de la Interseccionalidad en la Construcción de la “Experiencia Común” en las Primeras Narrativas de Mujeres Lesbianas Latinas (2016)
    VI Coloquio ¿Del Otro La’o?: Perspectivas sobre Sexualidades Queer, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez - Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  • El Criterio de Corrección en el Trabajo Lexicográfico de Martha Hildebrandt. Notas para una Historia Glotopolítica del Perú en el Siglo XX. (2016)
    21st Annual Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages Graduate Student Conference, The Graduate Center (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • El Hungarito: An Affective and Linguistic Resource of Transgender Women and Gay Men in Peru (2016)
    23rd Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, American University - Washington, DC
  • Imaginando las Lenguas en/y el Espacio Público en el Perú: Hildebrandt y Sumire en el Congreso de la República (2016)
    Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano de Glotopolítica - Bogotá, Colombia
  • Teaching Spanish to Non-Spanish Speakers with Youtube Videos. Mapping Tendencies of Multiliteracies and Multimodalities on the Internet (2016)
    Multilingualism and Language Empowerment: A Response to Inequality, The Graduate Center (CUNY) - New York, NY
  • Políticas Lingüísticas e Indigenismo Peruano. El Caso de las "Brigadas de Culturización Indígena" de Puno (2015)
    Primer Congreso Latinoamericano de Glotopolítica, Universidad de Chile - Santiago, Chile
  • Queer as Lady Gaga or Cuirsh como La Gagis? Performative and Indexical Work of Mexican Youtube Videobloggers (2015)
    CLASP IV: 4th Culture, Language and Social Practice Conference - Boulder, CO
  • Yo Soy Muyerts. No, No Soy Mujer. Clase, Género y Sexualidad Disputados por Videobloggers Mexicanos Jóvenes (2015)
    20th Annual Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages Graduate Student Conference, The Graduate Center (CUNY) - New York, NY