Luis Duno-Gottberg is a Venezuelan academic and professor at Rice University, where he holds the Lee Hage Jamail Chair in Latin American studies. His research focuses on Caribbean and Latin American culture, visual culture, race, and political violence. Duno-Gottberg has authored and edited works on modern slavery in the Americas, mestizaje in Cuba, and the cultural representations of disasters and incarceration in Latin America.
Duno-Gottberg was born in Venezuela to Estela Gottberg, a neuroscientist, and , a philosopher. In 1994, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, graduating summa cum laude.
He later attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a Master's degree in Latin American Literature in 1996. He also completed a Doctoral Certificate in Cultural Studies. In 2000, he earned his PhD in Latin American Literature at the University of Pittsburgh.
Duno-Gottberg's academic career includes teaching and administrative roles in Venezuela and the United States. He has served as a juror for several literary and professional competitions, including the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Venezuelan Section Prize (2011), the Rómulo Gallegos International Literary Prize in Venezuela (2013), the José Donoso International Literary Prize in Chile (2022), and the LASA Fernando Coronil Prize for Venezuelan Studies (2022).
He also co-curated the exhibition "La Furia del Viento" at the Fototeca de Cuba, which featured over 120 years of photography documenting earthquakes and hurricanes.
After completing his PhD, Duno-Gottberg returned to Venezuela to join the faculty at Universidad Simón BolÃÂvar. He taught there from 2000 to 2003, where his courses focused on Latin American literature and cultural theory. In 2003, Duno-Gottberg accepted a position at Florida Atlantic University, where he served as Associate professor and Director of Caribbean and Latin American Studies. He also chaired the Comparative literature program before leaving the university in 2008.
Duno-Gottberg joined Rice University in 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2019. He served as Department Chair of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies from 2016 to 2020. His administrative roles at Rice include serving as the founding Magister of Duncan College (2009âÂÂ2015) and Magister of Baker College (2017âÂÂ2023). In 2025, he was appointed the founding Magister of Chao College.
In 2010, the Venezuelan Studies Section of the LASA awarded Duno-Gottberg the Best Paper in the Humanities award. He received an "Honorary Mention" for best research article from the same organization in 2012. Additionally, he was a recipient of the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching at Rice University in 2015 and 2017.