James D. Fernández (Brooklyn, NY, 1961) received his BA magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, and his MA and PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University. He taught as an Assistant and later Associate Professor at Yale University (1988-1995) before moving to New York University (NYU), where he has been since 1995. He was the inaugural director of NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center for 12 years (1995-2007), and has served since 2002 as Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.
Fernández is the author of Brevísima relación de la construcción de España y otros ensayos transatlánticos (Madrid: Polifemo, 2013), and Apology to Apostrophe: Autobiography and Rhetoric of Self-Representation in Spain (Durham: Duke University Press, 1992). He is also the co-editor (with Peter N. Carroll) of Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War (New York, NYU Press and the Museum of the City of NY, 1997).
In collaboration with the Spanish journalist and documentarian, Luis Argeo, Fernández has co-authored the book Invisible Immigrants: Spaniards in the US (1868-1945), and three documentary films: Dan Albert’s Paella/La paella de Daniel Albert (2012); A Legacy of Smoke/ Un legado de humo (2014); The Weight of Remembering/La plomada (2017).
In addition to his published scholarship and film work, Fernández has considerable experience in the realm of exhibitions. He curated the exhibition “The Cultural Legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade” and served on the advisory committees of two major shows: “Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War” at the Museum of the City of New York (2007-2008) and “Nueva York: 1613-1945” at the New-York Historical Society and the Museo del Barrio (2009). Fernández also curated the photographic exhibition “La colonia: A photo album of Spanish Immigrants in NY, 1898-1945” which opened in NY in 2009 and later traveled to several venues in Spain over the next two years.
Links to his scholarly and creative work can be found at
A Legacy of Smoke / Un legado de humo Spanish Immigrants in Tampa 