Laura V. Sández is a doctoral candidate in the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages PhD program (CUNY). Her research interests include history of concepts, performance, emotions, and intellectual history. Her current study of emotions borrows from her work and research in the field of theatre. In addition to being a scholar, Laura is also a performer. She has trained in corporeal mime technique both in New York and Paris, and holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University. Her current project at the New Media Lab (The Graduate Center-CUNY) works on sentiment analysis in comparative literature. Her research is concerned with the importance of emotions in the constitution of ethical agency. At the moment, she studies Cuba and Spanish post-war literature.