DrBeatriz Carbajal Carrera

PhD, Linguistics (University of Salamanca/Flinders University) 

MA, Spanish Language Teaching (University of Salamanca) 

BA, Spanish Studies; BA, English Studies (University of Salamanca)

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Beatriz is a linguist with training in sociolinguistic, pragmatic and discourse analysis approaches who specialises in humour and language pedagogy. She joined The University of Sydney as a Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies after completing a PhD in Lengua española at The University of Salamanca/Flinders University (Cotutelle program).

Her research is concerned with the role of language in shaping knowledge in humour contexts and teaching/learning contexts. She examines how language privileges certain ways of knowing over others, reinforcing existing hierarchies. Her work investigates discursive patterns of coloniality and how they go unnoticed in communication due to a "just kidding" logic in humour and to the unquestioning of authority in education. She applies theories from linguistics, decoloniality and sociology to analyse these patterns in online humour and teaching frameworks. Through her interdisciplinary approaches, she contributes to a nuanced understanding of the ways in which language conceptualizes knowledge.