Dr. Alexander M. Cárdenas is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. His field of specialization is colonial Latin American literature. Some of his research interests include indigenous literatures; Inca history; the "Baroque of the Indies"; the political agencies and intellectual movements of Amerindians, Mestizos, and Africans; decolonial and transatlantic studies; the origins of race and racism; the religious order of the Mercedarians, and the history of the Catholic Church. In a forthcoming article, he assesses the origin and development of the anti-Mestizo propaganda in early colonial Peru. As the essay demonstrates, colonial renditions of Mestizos' political and religious loyalties were influenced by not only local power struggles but also religious anxieties, racial discourses, and exclusionary legislation in imperial Spain. He is currently working on Juan Pérez Bocanegra's pastoral manual Ritual formulario e institución de curas (1631). He is interested in exploring the distinct (and conflicting) theological interpretations of Andeans' religious deviance in Ritual formulario and the various writings of the members of the "Extirpation of idolatry." Dr. Cárdenas has published several book reviews and presented in professional conferences in his areas of research in different parts of the United States and Peru.
