How does local cultural production respond to global, phenomenological forces in Latin America? How does the digital sphere operate as an expanded territory for writing, reading, and producing culture in Spanish and Portuguese? These are some of the questions that inspire Professor Raynor’s academic work.

Professor Raynor’s scholarship centers around contemporary cultural products, encompassing various forms such as textual, visual, digital, and analog. She acknowledges that culture extends beyond the realm of canonical literature to include fan fiction, social media storytelling, and memes. Her commitment lies in broadening the definition of cultural production and giving a platform to creators including artists, writers, bloggers, and poets who may exist on the margins of her fields.

As we continue into the twenty-first century, Raynor attests to the need to venture beyond conventional and sanitized academic settings. Instead, exploring digital spaces like chat rooms, web forums, and comment sections—often referred to as digital back alleys—becomes imperative to scrutinize expressions of contemporary life, as they offer unique forms of expression. Latin America, renowned for its rich diversity and multilingualism, serves as a fertile ground for explorations around equity and inclusion.

Raynor’s research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec. Her writing appears in Digital Humanities Quarterly, the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, and Estudos de Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea.

Professor Raynor’s current project, Pandemic Imaginaries, examines cultural responses to public health crises in Latin America, including COVID-19, Zika, AIDS, and yellow fever (alongside dengue and chikungunya). Her work focuses on the creative contributions of writers, filmmakers, poets, and digital content creators in addressing critical public health moments, which not only expose enduring inequities in the Global South but also connect contemporary pandemics to historical legacies and ecological change.