DrFernanda Penaloza

DPhil (Exeter, UK); MA (Exeter, UK); Licenciada (UBA, Argentina)

I joined the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies after eight years living in the UK, where I completed my MA and Phd at the University of Exeter, and then lectured in Latin American Studies at the University of Manchester for four years.

I coordinateSURCLA(Sydney University Research Community for Latin America).

I am a Latin Americanist, with a strong background in critical theory, and expertise in the field of Latin American Cultural Studies. Interdisciplinary in nature, my work is primarily concerned with how knowledge production, and political, economic and cultural forces shape the way in which the peoples of Latin America and the region itself—both as a signifier and as a geopolitical location—are discursively constructed.

In the past few years, the majority of my publications focus on Latin American cultures, and their interconnections with Australia.In my work I am constantly seeking to understand interactions and influences that are neither limited by national boundaries nor restricted to the North-South axis, which is still the predominant paradigm in our field.

Mapping Connections: Australia and Latin America(co-edited with Sarah Walsh, Palgrave, 2019) is the most recent publication outcome that illustrates the line of research I’m developing.