Nicolás Aguía Betancourt is a composer and PhD student in Latin American Cultural and Literary Studies. His music has been performed by ensembles and musicians including Sonia Díaz, Roger Zahab, Robert Frankenberry, the JACK Quartet, TAK Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Loadbang, Duo Cortona, Duo Jacarandá, Bearthoven, and Sonic Apricity in the United States, Italy, and Colombia. In 2020, Nicolás received the Premio Especial for his string quartet Melismas Espectrales in Colombia’s Second National String Quartet Composition Competition. He was also the recipient of the 2022 William Thomas McKinley Alumni Commission. 

His research examines the relationship between technology, the economy, and social crises in the Andes and the Caribbean through literary texts, music, and sound. By advancing a transregional framework that moves beyond the confines of the nation-state, he bridges economic history, literature, and sound studies to explore the relationship between labor and race. He also conducts research on philosophy and Latin American intellectual history to examine the discourses and approaches through which Latin America has been conceptualized.

In 2024, Nicolás received second place in the Raymund Schwager Memorial Award, presented by the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, for his paper "Mimetic Images of Conflict and Accumulation: Negative Reciprocity in José María Arguedas’ Every Blood." That same year, he received the Graduate Student Research Award from the North Central Council of Latin Americanists (NCCLA) for his paper "La inmunización del autoritarismo en Chile: populismo y destierro de lo político," a comparative analysis of the works of José Joaquín Brunner and Ernesto Laclau.

Publications:

Books:
Camargo Acosta, C., Prado González, C., Aguía Betancourt, N., & Roa Ordoñez, H. Tendencias Actuales de la Creación Académica de la Música Andina Colombiana. Fondo de Publicaciones Universidad Sergio Arboleda, 2017.

Articles: 

“Mimetismo y abyección en La hora de la estrella de Clarice Lispector y The Bluest Eye de Toni Morrison.” Taller de Letras 78, 2026, 111-136.

“Violencia e indiferenciación en Todas las sangres, de José María Arguedas.” Revista Iberoamericana, XCII (295), 2026, 385-405.

“Ahayu-Watan: Gamaliel Churata’s Ontogenetic Philosophy of Memory.” Chasqui: Revista de Literatura y Cultura Latinoamericana e Indígena, 53 (2), 2024, 259-75. 

“Necropolítica en Chambacú, corral de negros de Manuel Zapata Olivella.” Cuadernos de Literatura del Caribe e Hispanoamérica, (36), 2023, 53-76. 

Conference Proceedings 

“La sombra de la razón: racionalidad instrumental, raza y poder en el pensamiento de Aníbal Quijano y Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze.” Las literaturas de África y su diáspora. Actas de las primeras Jornadas de Literaturas Afro año 2023. Comp. Aguilar, P.; Biorda, M. C.; Impini, G. Facultad de Humanidades, Artes y Ciencias Sociales - UADER. Paraná, E.R, 30-36.