The Scholar 

Education

Ph.D. University of Virginia (USA), Spanish (focus on Latin American Studies), 2020

M.A. University of Virginia (USA), Spanish, 2016

M.A. University of Turin (Italy), Comparative Literatures and Cultures, 2013

B.A. University of Turin (Italy), Comparative Literatures and Cultures, 2011

Smithsonian Institute (USA), Certificate in World Art History, 2025

Harvard University (USA), Certificate in Afro-Latin American Studies, 2023

Research Interests

• Contemporary Latin American and Italian Studies

• Activist ART (ARTivism) and Visual Studies

• Global Mobility, Migration, and Diaspora Studies 

• Educational Technology and Digital Pedagogy 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

My research focuses on visual culture, activist art (or ARTivism), and the relationship between artistic production and social change. I examine how artists use visual and multimodal practices—including photography, film, digital media, performance, and public art—to engage questions of identity, belonging, memory, cultural preservation, and representation. Much of my work considers these artistic practices in the context of global mobility and the legacies of forced migration produced by political repression, economic inequality, slavery, land dispossession, and environmental crises. I am particularly interested in how art can challenge dominant narratives, recover marginalized histories, and create alternative spaces for visibility and cultural expression. Pedagogically, I also explore innovative approaches to integrating AI and technology into Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and visual and multimodal learning. In my free time, I enjoy making art myself, experimenting with whatever surfaces and media happen to be available.

Research Appointments

• Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana “Dr. Emilio Ravignani” (Argentina), Visiting Research Fellow, Grupo de Estudios Afrolatinoamericanos (GEALA), 2024

• Columbia University (USA), Research Fellow, Institute of Latin American Studies, 2022

• University of Manchester (UK), Research Fellow, Center for Latin American Studies, 2020-2021

Teaching

University of Virginia (USA) Fall 2014 – present

Spanish Courses

SPAN 3301 ("Interpreting Film, Arts, and Visual Literature" Fall 2026)

SPAN 3300 (“Hispanic Migration in Literature and Visual Arts”—winner of the Mellon Global South Lab Curriculum Development Award, Spring 2021)

SPAN 3300 (“Texts and Interpretation” Spring 2018, Fall 2020, Spring 2025, Fall 2026)     

SPAN 3030 ("Cultural Conversations" Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

SPAN 3010 (“Finding your Voice in Spanish” Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2025, Spring 2026)     

SPAN 2020 (“Advanced Intermediate Spanish” Fall 2023)  

SPAN 2010 (“Intermediate Spanish” Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, J-Term 2019)

Italian Courses

ITTR 4559 (“Italians in Brazil: Art, Migration, and Identity”—independent study, Fall 2024)

ITAL 3559 (“Italy in Migration: Media, Literature, and Visual Arts” Spring 2023)

ITAL 3020 (Mastering Italian Language and Culture II: Learning through Experience Spring 2026)

ITAL 2020 (“Intermediate Italian II” Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2024)          

ITAL 2010 (“Intermediate Italian I” Fall 2022)

ITAL 1020 (“Elementary Italian II” Spring 2023—focus on diversity, Spring 2024)

ITAL 1010 ("Elementary Italian I" Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2026)  

College Courses

EGMT 1510 ("The Art of Noticing"—college advising seminar)

COLA 1500 (“Global ARTivism”—college advising seminar)

University of Virginia in Valencia, Study Abroad Program (Spain)    

SPAN 3030 (“Spanish Culture in Cinema and Visual Arts” Summer 2018)   

SPAN 2020 (“Advanced Intermediate Spanish” Summer 2017, Summer 2018)       

SPAN 2010 (“Intermediate Spanish” Summer 2017)

Publications

Bonino, Nicole. “Artistic Resilience: Climate Crisis and the Response of Latin American Eco-Artivism.” LACIS Review, 3, Fall/Winter 2024

Bonino, Nicole. “The Socio-environmental Implications of Argentina’s Informal Economy in Antonio Berni’s Xilo-collage Inundación en el barrio de Juanito (1961).” Bulletin of Contemporary Hispanic Studies, 6.2 (2024): 149-165

Bonino, Nicole. “Trazando caminos: Retratística afroargentina como archivo de memoria e instrumento de visibilización.” Perspectivas Afro. Revista de investigaciones en estudios afrolatinoamericanos y afrocaribeños, 3.1 (2023): 135-152

Bonino, Nicole and Hiromi Kaneda. “Reclaiming Identity: The Cinematic Activist Journey of Afro- Argentinian Director Wisny Dorce and His Film Production Company ‘Black Existencia Films’: Interview with Wisny Dorce.” Framework. The Journal of Cinema and Media, 64.1 (2023): 180-191

Bonino, Nicole. “Más allá del conflicto: matices ecocríticos en ‘A la deriva’ por Horacio Quiroga.” Chasqui. Revista de literatura latinoamericana, 51.1 (2022): 135-152

Bonino, Nicole. “Hibridismo literario y naturalismo criollo: el caso de Antonio Argerich.” El Cid, 31 (2021): 7-13 (winner of the Del Greco Essay Prize)

Bonino, Nicole. “Villa Miseria también es América: Resistance and Resilience in Argentinian Slums During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Spanish and Portuguese Review, 6 (2020): 9-21

Bonino, Nicole. “Génova-Buenos Aires: paisaje oceánico y migración en Sull’Oceano (1889) de Edmondo De Amicis.” Exégesis, 3 (2020): 93-107

Bonino, Nicole. “Colombia no tiene quien la cure: el discurso médico en El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1958-61) de Gabriel García Márquez.” Hispanófila. Ensayos de literatura, 184 (2018): 69-83

Bonino, Nicole. “Migración y ecocrítica: paisajes urbanos en la literatura ítalo-argentina.” In La cosa nostra: estudios lingüístico-literarios sobre la inmigración italiana en Argentina, edited by Augusto Lorenzino. Buenos Aires: Editorial Dunken (2019): 11-29 (Invited Article)

Bonino, Nicole, and Stella Mattioli. “Keeping up with Social Changes in Second Language Acquisition.” Drive-Thru Pedagogy, Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation, College of William and Mary, March 2022 (Public writing)

Bonino, Nicole. “Covid-19 and the City: Visual Art, Social Media, and Performance in a Locked-down Buenos Aires.” Global COVIDiaries, University of Virginia, May 2020 (Public writing)

Bonino, Nicole. “Coastal Futures Conservatory Open Lab: Bridging Science, Art, and Community.” Environmental Humanities at UVA, University of Virginia, September 2019 (Public writing)

Visual Arts and Curatorial Projects 

My creative and curatorial work bridges visual arts and creative writing. I serve as an Executive Committee Member of the MLA Visual Culture Forum, contributing to broader scholarly conversations around visual culture and visual studies. I am Principal Investigator, Curator, and Academic Lead for Global ARTivism, an interdisciplinary arts initiative that brings contemporary international artists to Charlottesville through exhibitions, artist residencies, public talks, workshops, film screenings, and student engagement. My own artwork has been exhibited at the Fralin Museum of Art through The Little Museum of Art and featured in local and international academic and visual projects. My photographic series Settling Down in Buenos Aires: Italian Immigrants and Urban Nests was selected for the University of Manchester’s Photography as Methodology in Social Science project and subsequently published in an open-access volume, while my photographs Octubre rosado and Urban Panoptics were selected for a LASA project on urban landscape and architecture. My creative practice also extends to writing: my short story Hope’s Last Harvest won the University/Adults Prose category of the Fralin Museum of Art’s 38th Annual Writer’s Eye Creative Writing Competition.

Full CV available at: https://virginia.academia.edu/NicoleBonino/CurriculumVitae