About

Wilfredo José Burgos Matos, Ph.D., is an academic, singer, artist, writer, and multilingual communications and outreach expert with experience in scholarly research, higher education administration, musical performance, and teaching. He has had professional engagements in New York City, Texas, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. Burgos Matos conducts research on Caribbean and Caribbean Latinx affect, sonic geographies, and literary traditions, as well as language justice and mental health in Latinx communities, and alternative pedagogies. Additionally, he practices and studies Afro-Caribbean spiritual traditions, particularly espiritismo, and examines the cultural exchanges and shared popular music expressions between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.

As an academic in Caribbean and Caribbean Latinx studies, he specializes primarily in the study of sonic and affective geographies of the global Dominican diaspora, especially in urban spaces. He is an expert in amargue, an emotion embodied in Dominican bachata and its expressive performances. His scholarly work has been presented and published across multiple countries, including Brazil, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the United States. He is also a research writer for the NEH digital project, A History of Dominican Music in the United States, developed at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.

In 2021, Dr. Burgos Matos founded Spanish for Mental Wellness, a national training program accredited by the Continuing Education Accreditation Program (CEAP) and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). He also led Spanish Meducation at the Travis County Medical Society in Austin from 2020 to 2023, the oldest medical Spanish school in Texas, making significant contributions to online curricular design, research, and teaching in bilingual medical interpretation for working adults and healthcare professionals. At The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), he developed the nation’s first Spanish course specifically tailored for mental health contexts.

Currently, he serves as the Communications Publications Editorial Manager at Hostos Community College, CUNY, managing both internal and external communications, college-wide newsletters, publications, and media relations. He is also the Research and Education Director for the Multicultural Music Group, Inc., a Bronx-based nonprofit that integrates history education with symphonic music.

A lifelong musician and performance artist, Dr. Burgos Matos has been actively involved in Caribbean popular music scenes in Puerto Rico and the United States (NYC and Texas) since the age of seven. He holds a Ph.D. in Iberian and Latin American Languages and Cultures, focusing on Caribbean sound studies, from The University of Texas at Austin; an MA in Spanish Studies from The City College of New York, CUNY; an MA in Journalism from the University of Puerto Rico–Río Piedras; and a BA in Hispanic Studies, summa cum laude, from the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez. He has taught at various institutions, including Lehman College, Brooklyn College, The City College of New York, Hunter College, UT Austin, and Austin Community College.