Dr. David Wood, associate professor of Spanish at Millsaps College, has been selected as the 2022-23 recipient of the Humanities Teacher Award, presented by the Mississippi Humanities Council.
“I’m certainly grateful to the Mississippi Humanities Council for this award, and especially grateful that it recognizes scholarship in another language and culture,” Wood said.
Wood joined the Millsaps faculty in 2014 as chair of Modern Languages and associate professor of Spanish. He teaches a broad range of Spanish courses at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. He also teaches courses on Hispanic film. He earned a B.A. in History from Brigham Young University, an M.A in Spanish from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literature from UCLA.
Wood credits his passion for learning languages to studying in Spain as an undergraduate. At Millsaps, he has led study abroad programs to the Yucatán Peninsula and Spain. One of his main contributions to the humanities is the introduction of English-speaking audiences and readers to the hidden gems of Spanish literature through research and teaching. As a teacher, he attempts to illustrate the joys and challenges of learning a different language.
“Millsaps is proud to partner with the Mississippi Humanities Council in honoring David Wood for this award,” said Dr. Keith Dunn, provost and dean of Millsaps College. “His intellect, his commitment to a broad liberal arts education, his passion for language and culture, and his innovative engagement with students have defined his success here at Millsaps and beyond.”
Wood has published a number of scholarly articles on Spanish literature and film. His most recent publication compares the artistic endeavors of Greta Garbo, Maruja Mallo and Concha Méndez at the onset of female celebrity and early feminism in Spain of the 1920s. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled “The Rhetoric of Illness in a Decade of Discontent: Literature and Reform in Stories and Essays by José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín) 1894-1904.”
As the recipient of the Humanities Teacher Award, Wood will give a public lecture on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. in the McMullan Lecture Hall in the Selby and Richard McRae Christian Center. His talk will be entitled, “Loving Spain Bitterly: Illness as Satire in ‘Firecrackers’ by José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín).”
In this presentation, Dr. Wood will analyze the sickly protagonists in “Firecrackers” who suffer under a debilitating environment that incubates the diseases these characters are destined to endure. Aware of the threat satire posed to Spain’s government, Martínez Ruiz employed satire to criticize the condition of Spanish laws, customs, and policies that not only weakened government officials but also threatened the creativity and livelihood of Spanish artists and intellectuals.
Wood’s lecture will also be livestreamed on the Millsaps College Facebook page and YouTube channel.