Office Address: New Cabell Hall 423

Education

• Ph.D., Harvard
• M.A., Harvard
• A.M., Chicago
• B.A., University of Virginia

Biography

Ricardo Padrón is a Professor of Spanish who studies the literature and culture of the early modern Hispanic world, particularly questions of empire, space, and cartography. His recently published monograph, The Indies of the Setting Sun: How Early Modern Spain Mapped the Far East as the Transpacific West (Chicago 2020) examines the place of Pacific and Asia in the Spanish concept of “the Indies.”  His research for this book has taken him to China, Japan, and the Philippines, and has been sponsored by U.Va.’s Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation, Arts & Sciences at U.Va., and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also published on early modern poetry and historiography, and on the mapping of imaginary worlds in modern times. Prof. Padrón is an active member of the Renaissance Society of America, and is currently serving as a member of its Board of Directors. He is also serving as Director of Graduate Studies in Spanish. During the Spring of 2022, Prof. Padrón spent part of his research leave as a visiting professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.