Latin American literature and cultural studies scholar
José Juan Arrom (February 28, 1910 - April 12, 2007) was a leading authority on Latin American cultural studies and a pioneer in shaping the field in the United States at a time when most Spanish departments mainly taught about peninsular Spain. He is particularly well-known for his studies of Latin American theater, Cuban culture and lexicology, and the myths of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Caribbean. He was a professor of Latin American Literature at Yale University for nearly 40 years.
Background.
Arrom was born in Holguín, Cuba in 1910 to a Cuban mother and Mayorquín father. He grew up in the small town of Mayarí, where his father had a dry goods store. He worked at a sugar mill in what was then Preston, Cuba, now known as Guatemala, Cuba, until August 1932. He initially emigrated to the United States in 1928, returned to Cuba in 1930, and then moved back to the US permanently in 1932, where he later attended the Mount Herman School in Northfield, Massachusetts. In 1934 he entered Yale University and earned three degrees: a Bachelor of Arts (1937), a Master of Arts (1940), and a Ph.D. in Philosophy (1941). He was one of the first Latin American scholars to obtain a doctorate from a North American university. His dissertation, "Historia de la literatura dramatica cubana", focused on the interactions between Spanish sailors and the Natives near Santiago de Cuba, and introduced the idea of dramatic texts and the theatre's capability to dissipate prejudices among the academic establishment of Latin American history. In 1947, he married Silvia Ravelo from Santiago de Cuba. The couple lived in New Haven, Connecticut and had two children, José Orlando Arrom and Silvia Marina Arrom.
Career.
Arrom spent his entire career teaching at Yale University. In addition to offering courses on Latin American literature, he served as director of graduate studies in Spanish from 1952 to 1968. He also helped build the Latin American Collection of the Yale University Library, where he served as curator from 1942 to 1962. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 1976. Rolena Adorno praised him as "one of the true founders" of Yale's Department of Spanish and Portuguese and explained that "his contributions to the history of Latin American literature form part of the permanent record of the development of our discipline." Arrom also lectured over the summers at the Universidad de La Habana (1946), at the Instituto Caro y Cuervo in Colombia (1960), and the University of Arizona (1960), amongst other institutions. 
Works.
Arrom has written more than a dozen books and numerous scholarly articles exploring a wide range of subjects and time periods. His survey of nearly five hundred years of Latin American literature, the "Esquema generacional de las letras hispanoamericanas" (1963) and "Hispanoamérica: panorama contemporáneo de su cultura" (1969) have been his most famous works. He discovered and edited two texts related to the Spanish conquest of the Americas: Fernán Pérez de Oliva's "Historia de la invención de las Indias" (1965), and Ramón Pané’s "Account of the Antiquities of the Indians" – the only one of his books to be translated into English (1999). His studies of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (Our Lady of Charity) and of the origin and meaning of the term criollo are now classics, and have been reproduced many times. He also authored the section on Spanish American drama for the Handbook of Latin American Studies from 1948 to 1955. His last publication, "De donde crecen las palmas" (2005), is a collection that pairs some of his scholarly essays with his memoir, "Recuerdos de un niño de Mayarí que viajó a la región de las nieves." Jorge Ulloa Hung and Julio Corbea Calzado authored a book entitled, "José Juan Arrom y la búsqueda de nuestras raíces" (2011) to pay tribute to Arrom's contributions as a critic, essayist, and researcher.
In 1979, when he received an award from the Hispanic Caucus of the U.S. Congress, Georgette M. Dorn of the Library of Congress interviewed him for the Library's Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape.
In March 1997, Arrom organized an exhibition at El Museo del Barrio along with Ricardo E. Alegría and Dicey Taylor. "Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean" was the first comprehensive presentation of Taíno works in North America. Holland Cotter considered it "both a landmark of scholarly achievement and a riveting visual experience."
Awards and honors.
Arrom's many honorary memberships included the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Ateneo Americano (Washington, D.C.), the Instituto de Historia del Teatro Americano (Buenos Aires), the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, the Real Academia Española de la Lengua (Spain), the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, and the Asociación de Lingüistas de Cuba. His awards include:
References.
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