Dr. Paola Calahorrano holds a BA in Journalism and Literature from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Following a career as a journalist and culture/arts editor in Quito, Ecuador, she pursued graduate studies in Hispanic Language and Literature in the United States, earning an MA from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. from Boston University. Her research and teaching interests encompass contemporary Latin American women’s writing, visual culture, gender studies, and health humanities. Her scholarship critically examines the politics of the body as a racialized and sexualized construct, with particular attention to representations of the female body in Hispanic cultures and its intersection with the medical establishment.
Since 2018, Dr. Calahorrano has been a faculty member in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Pittsburgh. She has taught over 25 sections of diverse courses in Spanish, including advanced language courses, upper-level electives, and courses conducted in English. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she serves as an academic advisor for undergraduate Minors and as a faculty advisor for the Pitt Club de Español.
Dr. Calahorrano has extensive experience in the design and revision of content-based courses that employ an interdisciplinary approach. At the University of Pittsburgh, she has developed and restructured multiple courses, including Span 1459: Mapping the Female Body: A Cultural Approach to Women’s Health in the Hispanic World, which explores women’s health through a cultural lens, addressing topics such as menstruation, pregnancy, sexuality, and menopause. More recently, she created Span 1451: “Disruptive” Bodies: Stories of Illness and Disability, a course designed as a critical platform to amplify the narratives of individuals experiencing illness and disability.
Classes Taught at Pitt
- Span 0082: “Latin America Today”
- Span 1055: “Introduction to Hispanic Literature”
- Span 1250: “Hispanic Civilizations”
- Span 1280: “Overview of Latin American Literature”
Created and Redesigned Courses at Pitt
- Span 1315: “Spanish for Professional Communication”
- Span 1417: “Latin American Film and Media.” Topic: “Mexican Visual Culture: Nation, Identity, and Gender”
- Span 1433: “Women’s Narratives in Latin America.” Topic: “Women’s reflections through canonical and non-canonical mediums.”
- Span 1459: “Mapping the Female Body: A Cultural Approach to Women’s Health in the Hispanic World”
- Span 1451: “Disruptive” Bodies: Stories of Illness and Disability
Degrees
- PhD, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Boston University
- MA, Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, University of Arizona
- BA, Journalism and Literatures, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Selected Publications
- “Nunca estuve sola: la imagen testimonial en voz femenina”. Crítica, memoria e imaginación en la literatura latinoamericana. Vicente Robalino, Editor. Centro de Publicaciones, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador: Quito, 2018, p. 47-71.
- “Cuerpo y muerte: la sexualidad que exhala Alejandra Pizarnik a través de la muerte deseada”. Divergencias, Revista de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, Volumen 8, Número 2, Invierno 2010, p.92-100.
- “Pedagogía feminista de las humanidades en salud: una aproximación al cuerpo de la mujer a través de la literatura y el cine”. Clepsydra. Revista internacional de estudios de género y teoría feminista, No. 25, November 2023.
Areas of Specialization
- Contemporary Latin American women’s writing
- Visual culture with an emphasis on film and photography
- Cultural and Gender Studies
- Feminism, reproductive rights, and feminist pedagogies
- Health Humanities