Mario Sánchez Gumiel

Mario Sánchez Gumiel earned his Ph.D. in romance languages and literatures (Spanish) from the University of Michigan. His research explores the intersections of utopian studies, posthumanism, and speculative fiction, with a focus on turn-of-the-20th-century Spain. His interests also include film, television, media, Spanish in Asia and the Pacific, and Disability Studies.

His current book, Imagining Hispanidad: Utopia and Posthumanism in Spanish Speculative Fiction, History, and Media, 1880s–1940s, is under review with Brill Academic Publishers. Sánchez Gumiel’s forthcoming volume, De jorobados, fantasmas, asesinos y otros monstruos (University of Cádiz, 2026), examines horror in 1940s Spanish cinema, and he is currently working on a companion volume about horror in 1950s Spanish cinema.

In addition to literature, film, and culture, Sánchez Gumiel studies second-language acquisition, particularly Spanish for the professions, as well as the intersections of language learning, neurodivergence, and emerging technologies.

Recent Courses Taught

Spanish in the Professions
Fourth Term Spanish

Research Interests

19th-21st century Spanish and Latin American literature and visual culture, Spanish as a second language, critical posthumanisms, utopian studies, science fiction, film, television and media studies, Spain in/and/with Asia, weird studies, disability studies

Distinctions

• One-Term Dissertation Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (2023)
• Rackham Humanities Research Fellowship, University of Michigan (2022)
• Santander Bank Award, Santander Bank & IE University (2020)
• Institute for the Humanities Grant, University of Michigan (2019)
• Research Grant, Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, University of Michigan (2018)

Selected Publications

Books

• De jorobados, fantasmas, asesinos y otros monstruos: una aproximación al terror en el cine español de los años 40, University of Cádiz, Spain [forthcoming]
• The Forms of Things Un-Known: Posthumanism(s), and the Utopian Desire Called Hispanidad at Machine Age Spain (1880s–1940s approx.). Manuscript under contract with Brill Academic Publishers (expected submission: January 2026)

Peer-reviewed Articles

• “The Writhing Plateau: Tentacular Cities, Dystopia and the Weird in Pompeu Gener’s “La coronada villa tentacular” (1911).” Penumbra: A Journal of Weird Fiction and Criticism, 6, pp. 54-99. 2025
• “En el mundo no puede haber dos cosas iguales”: Borges, the Virtuality Continuum, and Mixed Reality in ‘Del rigor en la ciencia’ (1946) and ‘Parábola del palacio’ (1960).” LACIS Review, 2, URL: https://www.lacisreview.org/
• “Coke Cans, the Osborne Bull and Spanishness: Space and the Male Body in Jamón, jamón (Bigas Luna, 1992).” FilmHISTORIA Online, 33.1, pp. 196-222.

Appointed to the Faculty

2026

Educational Background

M.A.T., Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
Ph.D., University of Michigan
M.A., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
B.A., Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

Dissertation

The Forms of Things Un-Known: Posthumanism(s), and the Utopian Desire Called Hispanidad at Machine Age Spain (1880s-1940s approx.)