Adrián Emmanuel Hernández-Acosta is a doctoral candidate in the Committee on the Study of Religion. He has earned an MA in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and a BA in Religion and Music from Tufts University. Adrián’s research and teaching topics include African diaspora studies in the Caribbean and Latin America; African diaspora religions; and Hispanophone Caribbean literature & culture. His dissertation offers an analysis of Dominican Vudú, Puerto Rican Espiritismo, and Cuban Santería and Palo in contemporary Hispanophone Caribbean literature, with particular interest in how texts appeal to African diaspora divine forces in moments of loss, death, mourning, and melancholy. In addition to his academic pursuits, Adrián has also worked as a hospital chaplain at Massachusetts General Hospital and as an adult educator for those on parole and probation in the greater Boston area.