Jorge Antonio Majfud Albernaz (born September 10, 1969) is a Uruguayan American professor and writer.
Early life
Majfud was born on September 10, 1969, in Tacuarembó, Uruguay. He is of paternal ChristianLebanese descent, as his grandparents immigrated from Lebanon to Uruguay. His father, born to an impoverished family of 12 children, was a carpenter by trade and his mother, Marlene (née Albernaz; 1940-1984), was a sculptor. His father moved to Montevideo during the 1950s to study carpentry and radiotelephony, ultimately becoming a successful businessman in different sectors, including in agriculture, banking, and pharmaceutical.[1]
Education
In 1996, Majfud received a bachelor of architecture from the University of the Republic. during which he traveled extensively to gather material that would later become part of his novels and essays. After his undergraduate studies, he became a professor at the University of Costa Rica and at Escuela Técnica del Uruguay, where he taught art and mathematics. In 2003, Majfud enrolled in the University of Georgia, where he obtained a masters and Ph.D. in the Department of Romance Languages.
Majfud has won many awards, including the Excellence in Research Award in Humanities and Letters in 2006, Casa de las Américas prize in 2001, a Juan Rulfo Award finalist in 2011, Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Professional Activities at Jacksonville University in 2013, and the Premio Letterario Internazionale Indipendente Settima (The Independent International Literary Award) in 2019.[3] His novels and essays are under study in different universities in Europe,[4] the U.S.,[5] and Latin America,[6][7] and is one of the most important writers of a new generation of Uruguayan intellectuals.[8] In 2012, readers of the American magazine Foreign Policy (now EsGlobal in Spanish) recognized him as "The Most Influential Latin American Intellectual".[9] He delivered public lectures at many universities and events around the world.[10][11]
2020, Crónicas del coronavirus (Editorial Irreverentes) ISBN978-8417481490
2020, Diccionario de autobiografías intelectuales (Universidad Nacional de Lanus) ISBN978-987-4937-54-4
2019, Unwanted People (University of Valencia Press, PUV) by Aviva Chomsky. ISBN978-84-9134-456-8
2018, Cinco entrevistas a Noam Chomsky (Le Monde Diplomatique / Editorial Aun Creemos en los Sueños) by Michel Foucault, Ignacio Ramonet, Daniel Mermet, Jorge Majfud y Federico Kukso. ISBN978-956-340-126-4
2018, "Vsa teža zakona" (Zgodbe iz Urugvaja. Antologija sodobne urugvajske kratke proze/Anthology of contemporary Uruguayan short prose). Translated by Yuri Kunaver. ISBN978-961-6970-91-4
2017, The Routledge History of Latin American Culture (Edited by Carlos Manuel Salomon) ISBN978-1138902565 Routledge Histories.
2017, Pertenencia. Narradores sudamericanos en Estados Unidos. Antología. (Melanie Márquez Adams, Hemil García Linares, editores). Ars Communis Editorial, Publisher. ISBN978-0997289039.
2016, Ruido Blanco. Antología de cuentos de ciencia ficción uruguaya. (Mónica Marchesky, coordinador) ISBN9974844347 M Ed.
His stories and articles have been published in daily newspapers, magazines, and readers, such as El País of Madrid,[30]El País and La República[4] of Montevideo, Courrier International of Paris[5], Rebellion, Hispanic Culture Review of George Mason University, Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana of Dartmouth College, Pegaso of the University of Oklahoma, Texas State University, Washington University Political Review, Chasqui of Arizona State University, Hispamerica of University of Maryland, United Nations Chronicle,[31] UNICEF, Araucaria of Spain, etc. He has been the founder and editor of the magazine SigloXXI – reflexiones sobre nuestro tiempo. He is a contributor to El Pais, La República of Montevideo, La Vanguardia of Barcelona, Tiempos del Mundo of Washington, Monthly Review of New York, The Huffington Post, Milenio of Mexico, Jornada of La Paz, Panama America, El Nuevo Herald of Miami, Página/12 of Buenos Aires, Cambio16 of Spain, Centro Cervantes of Madrid, The Humanist of the American Humanist Association, Radio Uruguay, Radio Nacional de Argentina [6], Radio Exterior de España], Radio Popolare Roma, NTN 24 TV [7], Russia TV (RT), and many other daily and weekly newspapers. He is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the magazine Araucaria[8] in Spain.
His essays and articles have been translated into Portuguese, French, English, German, Italian, Basque, Greek, and many others. He is also the editor and translator of Ilusionistas, the latest book of Noam Chomsky in Spanish (Madrid, 2012).[32][33][34]
In November 2019, after the coup d'état in Bolivia, Jorge Majfud called on OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro to resign from his post. The letter went viral and was supported by millions of Latin Americans.[40][41][42]
Awards
He has distinguished himself in different international contests, for example:
Mention at Premio Casa de las Américas, in Habana, Cuba in 2001, for the novel La Reina de América, "because it stands out as an intense writing regarding the established powers by the use of parody and irony," according to the panel of judges composed of Belén Gopegui (Spain), Andrés Rivera (Argentina), Mayra Santos Febres (Puerto Rico) and others
Excellence in Research Award, University of Georgia, 2006
Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Professional Activities, Jacksonville University, 2013.
2014 International Latino Book Awards Finalist[43]
2019 Premio Letterario Internazionale Indipendente Award[44]
Further reading
Ferrer Herrero, Raúl. El otro en Jorge Majfud. Madrid: Ediciones Irreverentes, 2017[45]
Taiano, Leonor. De un infierno a otro: El migrante latino en Crisis de Jorge Majfud Rio: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Press, 2018[46]
Taiano, Leonor. Finisterre: en el últimolugar del mundo. "Huyendo hacia la paradoja del tío Sam: Consideraciones sobre Crisis de Jorge Majfud" (123-148)[47]
Gianni, Silvia M. "Identidad de la ausencia", University of Milan.(117-122)[48]
Pluta, Nina. "Migrancias y la dimensión transnacional de la crítica en la narrativa de Jorge Majfud" Arizona State University and Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny, Kraków (Poland)[49]
^Indigenous writings from the convent : negotiating ethnic autonomy in colonial Mexico, by Mónica DíazArchived August 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 2010. [1]
