William G. Acree, Jr.

William Acree (PhD UNC Chapel Hill) is Associate Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. His research and teaching center on the cultural history of Río de la Plata, with particular attention to popular culture and everyday life. His new book, Staging Frontiers: The Making of Modern Popular Culture in Argentina and Uruguay (University of New Mexico Press), traces the growth and impact of popular entertainment, most notably the Creole Circus phenomenon in the late 1800s, and its enduring imprint on cultural marketplaces. His first book, Everyday Reading: Print Culture & Collective Identity in the Río de la Plata, 1780-1910 (2011; Argentine edition 2013), was awarded the Latin American Studies Association Southern Cone Section 2013 Humanities Book Award. His work has received support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a J. William Fulbright Scholar award, and, among others, a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. Acree is also the editor of The Gaucho Juan Moreira (2014), and co-editor of several books including Building Nineteenth-Century Latin America (2009); Jacinto Ventura de Molina: los caminos de la escritura negra en el Río de la Plata (2010); and Empire’s End: Transnational Connections in the Hispanic World (2016). He taught at San Diego State University prior to joining Washington University.