Las Casas Studies at PC Community

Rev. David Thomas Orique, O.P.

Rev. David Thomas Orique, O.P., Ph.D., is an associate professor of history and the director of Latin American Latina/o Studies at Providence College. After ordination to the priesthood, Father Orique served the academic and pastoral needs of St. Thomas More Newman Center at the University of Oregon as well as of the rapidly growing Latino community in the Archdiocese of Portland, and other locations. During his service to the student and Hispanic populations, he earned a master’s in history at the University of Oregon in 2007 and a Ph.D. in 2011.

His thesis and his dissertation centered on the life, labor and legacy of Bartolomé de Las Casas, which was also the focus of his 2016 masters in Spanish literature. Father Orique has lived, traveled, and conducted research in Spain and Portugal and in other European countries, as well as has engaged in investigative activities in nineteen Latin American nations—and has continued to do so today. Father Orique’s writings and publications include, among others: “To Heaven or Hell: An Introduction to the Soteriology of Bartolomé de Las Casas” (2016) and “Justice and the Church in Latin America in the Era of a Jesuit Pope” (2015). His book titled “To Heaven or to Hell: Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Confesionario” was published in 2018 by Penn State.

María Cristina Ríos Espinosa

María Cristina Ríos Espinosa holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, 2006). She is a recipient of the Medal for Academic Merit awarded by the UNAM School of Philosophy and Literature (2007); did a research stay at the School of philosophy of the Complutense University of Madrid (2005); holds a master’s degree in Philosophy from the UNAM (2001); and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Panamerican University (1997).

Espinosa is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Association of Aesthetic Studies (AMEST, 2011-to date); is a specialist in Political Philosophy, Aesthetics and Political Hermeneutics; is a full-time research professor at the School of Art and Culture at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana; and is a member of the Philosophical Association of Mexico (2004–to date). She also is a member of the National System of Researchers of the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT); is the editorial coordinator of Cuadernos AMEST #2 and #3 and co-author of Cuadernos AMEST #1, #2 and #4; is the coordinator and co-author of the book Reflexiones en torno al ser del arte [Reflections on the Being of Art], Ibero-American University, Mexico, 2013 and of the book Revolución de Independencia e identidad cultural [Revolution of Independence and Cultural Identity], AMEST, 2013.

Vanina Teglia

Vanina Teglia holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Buenos Aires. With a doctoral dissertation on Utopia of America in Bartolomé de las Casas and Fernández de Oviedo, and being a specialist in Spanish-American colonial literature, she has published several articles in joint volumes and academic journals in Colonial Studies. She prepared critical editions of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Cristóbal Colón and Bartolomé de las Casas.

She is currently working on natural histories and mythical universes in the chronicles of the Indies and travel stories of the sixteenth century. She teaches Latin American Literature at the University of Buenos Aires and is a Researcher at CONICET. She won a Fulbright scholar fellowship, a grant from the National Ministry of Education of Argentina, a fellowship from the John Carter Brown Library, the Huntington Library and the GRISO-UNAV.

Mario Ruiz Sotelo

Mario Ruiz Sotelo is a full-time professor in the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy and bachelor’s degree of sociology from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His main lines of research: Latin American political philosophy, Philosophy of liberation and decolonial turn, Philosophy of the conquest of America. He is a research member of the National System of Researchers and author of the book Crítica de la razón imperial. La filosofía política de Bartolomé de Las Casas (México, Siglo XXI, 2010). He has written about 30 articles published in specialized magazines and book chapters, among them “Bartolomé de Las Casas y la Filosofía de la liberación (2019), “Hacia una visión decolonial de los derechos humanos (2020) and “El humanismo jesuita” (2009) and is the recipient of the National Philosophy Award 2006-2007 for the best master’s thesis awarded by the Philosophical Association of Mexico.

Ramón Darío Valdivia Jiménez

Ramón Darío Valdivia Jiménez was born in Osuna (Seville-Spain, 1974). He earned his bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Seville in 1997; bachelor’s in theology in Centro de Estudios Teológicos in 2003; Ph.D. in philosophy from the Lateran University (Rome, 2008), and J.D from University of Seville (2020). He was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Seville and has held multiple pastoral and academic assignments.

Currently, in addition to attending a parish in Seville, he develops an intense teaching work at the Faculty of Theology “San Isidoro de Sevilla” as a professor of various philosophical disciplines and at the Center for Higher Studies of the Fundación San Pablo-CEU Cardenal Spínola of legal subjects. His most important publications are aimed at studying and reflecting on the influence of Bartolomé de Las Casas in the philosophical and legal field, among which are his two monographs already published: Called to the peaceful mission. The religious dimension of freedom in Bartolomé de Las Casas, CSIC-University of Seville-Diputación de Sevilla, Madrid, 2010; Bartolomé de Las Casas, Fundación Enmanuel Mounier, Madrid, 2012. The latest project, which will appear soon is The Birth of Modernity: Justice and Power in the Thought of Bartolomé de Las Casas.

Andrew Wilson

Andrew Wilson, Ph.D. is associate professor of the history of Christianity at Japan Lutheran College and Seminary in Tokyo, where he teaches modern and global Christian history and Christian political anthropology. His work has explored the nexus of race and religion in Las Casas’ earliest vision for a reformed Spanish Indies: “Black Slaves and Messianic Dreams in Las Casas’s Plans for an Abundant Indies” (2013). More recent studies trace Las Casas’ role in the rhetoric of European and Latin American revolutions: “Enlightenment and Revolutionary Uses of Las Casas from Charlesvoix to Pancho Villa” (forthcoming). He is currently working on an annotated English translation of las Casas earliest Memoriales to the Spanish crown and Council of the Indies.