Gabriel Acevedo
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Ross-Blakley Hall Office 264 Tempe, AZ 85281
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Mail code: 1401Campus: Tempe
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Gabriel T. Acevedo (Gabe) is an Assistant Professor of English Education in the Department of English at Arizona State University. A queer Puerto Rican scholar and former K–12 educator, his research explores queer and decolonial literacies, English language arts and teacher education, young adult literature, bilingualism and translanguaging, masculinity, and education in Puerto Rico. Across his scholarship and teaching, he examines how literature, media, storytelling, and culturally sustaining pedagogies can create more affirming classrooms and expansive possibilities for queer and Latinx youth and educators.
Acevedo’s forthcoming monograph, Archipelagic Boyhoods, Queer Futures and Decolonial Literacies: Classroom Worlds from Puerto Rico (Routledge, 2027), brings together these commitments to theorize classrooms as spaces for resisting colonial and heteronormative erasure, sustaining cultural memory, and imagining more just futures. His scholarship appears in publications including English Journal, English in Education, The ALAN Review, the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education, and others. At ASU, he teaches courses in English education, research methods, young adult literature, queer literacies, and language teaching. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Acevedo earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Penn State University and his MA and BA from the University of Puerto Rico.
Ph.D. Curriculum & Instruction w/ Minor in Latino Studies, The Pennsylvania State University
M.A. in English Education w/ Certificate in Film Studies, The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
B.A. in English Education Secondary & Elementary with Multimedia Technology w/ Theater Minor, The University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla
ELA Teacher Preparation
Queer Young Adult Literature
Autoethnography and Qualitative Methods
Masculinity/Machismo in Puerto Rico
Latinx Queer Representation in Multimodal Texts
Selected Publications:
Forthcoming Monograph
Acevedo, G. T. (2027). Archipelagic boyhoods, queer futures and decolonial literacies: Classroom worlds from Puerto Rico. Routledge.
Selected Journal Articles
Acevedo, G. T. (2026). Translanguaging as change: Re-centring Spanish and Spanglish in English education. English in Education.https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2026.2731947
Acevedo, G. T. (2026). Reading between truth and suspicion: Queer YA crime fiction in the ELA classroom. English Journal, 115(4), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.58680/ej2026115459
Acevedo, G. T. (2026). “This feels real”: Queer YA graphic novels, literacy, and teaching for justice in a time of bans. The ALAN Review, 53(3), 38–59.
Acevedo, G. T. (2026). Mediating empathy: Teaching LGBTQIA+ young adult literature with literary and critical care. English Journal, 115(3), 57–65. https://doi.org/10.58680/ej2026115357
Acevedo, G. T. (2026). A trans youth’s encounters with queerness in Puerto Rico. Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education, 3(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.60808/6rqa-gk59
Acevedo, G. T. (2023). Bodies, stories, survival: HIV in Puerto Rican and Caribbean literature. Revista Brisas, 22(1), 132–139.
Selected Book Chapters
Acevedo, G. T. (2024). A critical look at “pato” y “maricón”: Puerto Rican gay teachers’ interventions with homophobic language. In K. Bryan (Ed.), Weaponizing language in the classroom and beyond (pp. 107–123). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110799521-006
Acevedo, G. T. (2024). Navigating queer and Latinx identities throughout my doctoral program journey. In L. J. Pentón Herrera, E. T. Trịnh, & B. Yazan (Eds.), Curating the self and embracing the community: Autoethnographic evocations of U.S. doctoral students in the fields of social sciences and humanities (pp. 11–30). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004688063_002
Acevedo, G. T. (2022). Exploring characterization narratives with Chulito: A novel. In P. Greathouse & C. Miller (Eds.), Queer adolescent literature as a complement to the English language arts curriculum (2nd ed., pp. 177–191). Rowman & Littlefield.
Queer Student and Teachers Inquiry Research in Puerto Rico (2021-Present)
Gay Teachers Narrative Inquiry Research Study in Puerto Rico (4/1/2019-12/15/2019)
Queer and Latinx Children's and Young Adult Participatory Writing Program in Liceo Aguadillano in Puerto Rico (8/1/2013-12/15/17)
MayaWest Writing Project at The University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez , Assistant and E-Anthology Editor (6/1/2014-7/15/2016)
Courses
2026 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 501 | Approaches to Research |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
| ENG 506 | Methods Issues Tching Language |
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 606 | Adv Studies in English Educ |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 501 | Approaches to Research |
| ENG 506 | Methods Issues Tching Language |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 482 | Methods of Teaching: Language |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 501 | Approaches to Research |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
2024 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 482 | Methods of Teaching: Language |
| ENG 606 | Adv Studies in English Educ |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
| ENG 501 | Approaches to Research |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 482 | Methods of Teaching: Language |
| ENG 606 | Adv Studies in English Educ |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
| LIA 194 | Special Topics |
| ENG 501 | Approaches to Research |
2022 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ENG 606 | Adv Studies in English Educ |
| ENG 540 | Tchng Young Adult Literature |
Selected Presentations:
Invited Keynote Lectures and Community Engagements
2025. Trans Community and Access to Education. Invited speaker, Aunt Rita’s Foundation Red is the Night Gala, Phoenix, Arizona.
2025. “Opportunities for Passing”: What Does It Mean to Be a Light-Skinned Latino in a Trump World? Invited lecture, Race in Education, Penn State University, virtual.
2025. Radical Imagination Queer Futures and Becoming Yourself. Invited workshop, Camp OUTdoors, Phoenix, Arizona.
2024. “Quiero ser yo”: Generar éxito con mi identidad Cuir. Invited presentation, Escuela Dr. Carlos González Honors Student Program, Aguada, Puerto Rico.
2023. (Re)Assembling Ourselves: Queerness Education in Current Political Times. Keynote address, Kansas Association of Teachers of English Conference, Wichita, Kansas.
2023. The History of Drag and Its Impact on Gen Z. Invited presentation, ASU Project Humanities, virtual.
Selected Refereed Conference Presentations
2026. A Trans Youth’s Encounter with Queerness in Puerto Rico. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, California.
2025. A Queer Youth’s Pedagogical Encounters of Time, Space, and Queerness Through Photovoice in a Rural Small Town in Puerto Rico. National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado.
2024. A Queer Book Club Developing Empathy and Resistencia Through Young Adult Literature in Puerto Rican Classrooms.National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts.
2024. “Pato” y “Maricón”: Puerto Rican Gay Teachers’ Interventions with Homophobic Language. National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, Boston, Massachusetts.
2024. Reconocimiento de Educador Bilingüe. Revista Prisma, University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
2021. Mérito de Educador Activista. VIII Coloquio Del Otro Lao, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
Co-Editor, MayaWest Writing Project E-Anthology, The University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (2014-2016).
American Educational Research Association, National Council of Teacher of English, Literacy Research Association, Puerto Rico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, National Writing Project, and MayaWest Writing Project