Diogene Artiles

About Diogene

Diogene Artiles is a Dominican American scholar and DJ from Bushwick, Brooklyn, where his love for music, language, and community engagement were born. His favorite parts of early schooling were music and language classes, so he chose to deepen his curiosity by studying Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he concentrated on Portuguese and Lusophone cultures. He brought his love for global music to WKCR, the college radio, where he showcased independent Black and Indigenous artists from around Latin America. This would be the beginning of his career as a DJ, which has allowed him to cultivate safer spaces for social dance amongst queer people of color communities in New York City.   As a Mellon Mays Fellow and Laidlaw Scholar, Diogene conducted independent research that culminated in his thesis’ engagement of space in the photography of Alvin Baltrop and Alair Gomes, which ultimately won the Catherine Medalia Johannet thesis prize. Diogene is interested in constructions of physical and imaginary space in queer media, the effects of Spanish and Portuguese colonial policy on kinship, relationship, and desire, and how unconscious biases are spread and sustained in subaltern communities. Diogene aims to tackle these questions by pursuing a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese Studies after his Luce year. Currently, Diogene is serving as an 11th Grade Program Coordinator of Enrichment Programs and Mentoring at SEO Scholars, a college-access program for underserved New York City students, of which he is also an alum. He oversees high school students’ applications to pre-college academic and study abroad programs so that they, like we, can expand their horizons past the familiar. Ultimately, Diogene’s engagement with community and music are intimately connected to his academic questions, and his mission is to use history and the archive to inform tangible community change. Diogene earned his BA in 2022 from Columbia University.