Rafaela Fiore Urizar, Ph.D.

About

Dr. Rafaela Fiore Urízar joined California Lutheran University in Fall 2011 as an Assistant Professor in the newly established Department of Languages and Cultures. She previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Catholic University of America (2009–2011). She holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin American Literature from the University of Chicago (2009), an M.A. in Spanish Languages and Literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001), and a B.A. in Literature from the Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción” in Paraguay (1997).

At Cal Lutheran, Dr. Fiore Urízar teaches a wide range of Spanish courses, from introductory language classes to advanced seminars. Her teaching and research interests include dictatorship and post-dictatorship Latin American narratives, U.S. Latino literature, women writers, transatlantic detective fiction, and the intersections of literature, visual arts, and popular culture. 

Her scholarship reflects an interdisciplinary approach to Latin American and Latino cultural studies. She has published widely on literature, cinema, and popular culture, including analyses of Paraguayan films. Her publications appear in edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals, she has also contributed multiple book chapters, and written introductions and forewords for scholarly and literary works. She is currently working on a textbook of folktales in the Spanish speaking world with Dr. LaVerne Seales. 

Dr. Fiore Urízar served as Principal Investigator, alongside colleagues, on two federal grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s UISFL program. These grants supported interdisciplinary collaboration between Languages and Cultures and the Communication Department, resulting in travel seminars, new course development, scholarships for minority and underrepresented students, campus visits from distinguished speakers, and funding for field trips and cultural programming.

Dr. Fiore Urízar’s contributions have been recognized at the highest levels of the university. In 2021, she received the Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence, and in 2024, she was honored with the Dean’s Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. 

Dr. Fiore Urizar was the Languages and Cultures’ department chair from Spring 2018 to Spring 2024. 

Education

• Ph.D. Contemporary Latin American Literature. The University of Chicago.
• M.A. Spanish Languages and Literatures. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• B.A. Literature. Universidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción" at Asunción, Paraguay.

Expertise

Dr. Rafaela Fiore Urízar’s scholarship is in Contemporary Latin American literary and cultural studies, with particular emphasis on dictatorship and post-dictatorship narratives, memory and trauma, gender and sexuality, and the relationship between literature, film, and visual culture. Her work demonstrates a strong interdisciplinary orientation, bridging literary analysis, cultural studies, film studies, and memory studies while maintaining a firm grounding in close textual and visual analysis.

A central focus of her scholarship is the cultural production of the Southern Cone, especially Paraguay and Argentina. Through peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, she examines how literature and film reconstruct collective memory in the aftermath of authoritarian regimes, addressing themes of state violence, fear, urban space, and national identity. Her studies of Paraguayan films such as 108 Cuchillo de palo and 7 Cajas explore the lingering effects of dictatorship, particularly as they relate to marginalized communities, including LGTBQ+ population, Her work on Sylvia Molloy's El común olvido similarly analyzes the intersections on memory, space, and identity in post-dictatorial contexts, contributing to broader Latin American memory studies.

Dr. Fiore Urízar’s scholarship also foregrounds women writers and feminist narrative strategies. Her research on authors such as Luisa Valenzuela, Sylvia Molloy, and Carme Riera engages questions of myth, power, gendered memory, and postmodern aesthetics. By examining how women writers rewrite dominant narratives and challenge authoritarian or patriarchal structures, her work strengthens the integration of gender analysis within Hispanic literary studies.

Another dimension of her research is the exploration of literature in dialogue with visual arts and popular culture. She co-authored a peer-reviewed publications with students on Latina graffiti artists in Los Angeles and on East LA punk culture analyzing how marginalized communities use artistic expression to assert identity, negotiate hybridity, and claim urban space. These studies extend traditional literary scholarship into contemporary cultural production and situate Latin American and U.S. Latinx cultural forms within shared transnational frameworks.

Her work also engages transatlantic literary studies and genre analysis, including detective fiction and intellectual exchanges between Spain and the United States.

Publications

Fiore Urizar, Rafaela. (2022). "Between Places: Physical and Mnemonic Spaces in the Paraguayan Film 108 Cuchillo de palo." In M. Ramirez Rojas (Ed.), Growing Up in Latin America (pp. 47-64). Rowman and Littlefield. 

Fiore Urizar, Rafaela. “Cinema and the Picaresque: The Art of Survival in the Paraguayan Film 7 Cajas.” In Politics of Children in Latin American Cinema. Edited by Maria Soledad Paz-Makay and Omar Rodríguez. New York: Lexington Books, 2019. 3-19. Print.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela and Chloe Holt. “Coming Out of the Closet: The Politics of Fear and State Violence Against the Gay Community in the Documentary 108 Cuchillo de palo.” Poner el cuerpo: rescatar y visibilizar las marcas sexuales y de género de los archivos dictatoriales del Cono Sur. Ed. Ksenija Bilbija, Ana Forcinito and Bernardita Llanos. Santiago, Chile: Cuarto Propio, 2017. 241-259. Print.

Álvarez, Marina and Rafaela Fiore Urízar. “Writing Herstory: How Latina Grafiteras are Asserting their Place in Los Angeles Graffiti and Urban Art.” Cincunloquios: Revista de Estudios Culturales 3 (2016): 13-32. Print.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela and Alicia Núñez. “Punk’s Not Dead in East LA: Exploring the East Los Series and the Use of Locality and Cultural Hybridity for Eastside Catharsis.” Revista de Estudios Globales y Arte Contemporáneo (REG/AC) 3.1 (2015): 198-219. Print.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Intercanvis intel·lectuals: Carme Riera i la recepció de les seves obres a les universitats nord-americanes.” Els subjects de l’alteritat: Estudis sobre la narrativa de Carme Riera, edited by Luisa Cotoner and Pilar Arnau. Col·lecció Biblioteca Miquel dels Sants Oliver. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2011, pp. 145-157. 

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela, editor. Número especial en honor a Carme Riera, special issue of Tejuelo, vol.10, 2011, pp. 1-112. 

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. Foreword. Número especial en honor a Carme Riera, edited by Rafaela Fiore Urízar, special issue of Tejuelo, vol. 10, 2011, pp. 4-6.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “La creación de una estética de consumo: Carlos Barral y la producción literaria hispanoamericana”. Barralianas: Homenaje a Carlos Barral, edited by Germán Cánovas and Carme Riera. Barcelona: Academia del Hispanismo, 2010, pp. 177-184.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Escenografías urbanas de Buenos Aires: memoria, espacio e identidad en El común olvido de Sylvia Molloy”. Latin American Literary Review LALR, vol.74, 2010, pp. 63-81.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Deconstruyendo a Apolo: transposiciones ovidianas para una lectura del poder en ‘Cambio de armas’ de Luisa Valenzuela”. Mester XXXVIII, 2009, pp. 15-25.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. Foreword. Antología poética (1994-2004), by Fernando Pistilli, Servilibro, 2004.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Intercanvis intel·lectuals: Carme Riera i la recepció de les seves obres a les universitats nord-americanes.” Els subjects de l’alteritat: Estudis sobre la narrativa de Carme Riera, edited by Luisa Cotoner and Pilar Arnau. Col·lecció Biblioteca Miquel dels Sants Oliver. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2011, pp. 145-157. 

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela, editor. Número especial en honor a Carme Riera, special issue of Tejuelo, vol.10, 2011, pp. 1-112. 

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. Foreword. Número especial en honor a Carme Riera, edited by Rafaela Fiore Urízar, special issue of Tejuelo, vol. 10, 2011, pp. 4-6.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “La creación de una estética de consumo: Carlos Barral y la producción literaria hispanoamericana”. Barralianas: Homenaje a Carlos Barral, edited by Germán Cánovas and Carme Riera. Barcelona: Academia del Hispanismo, 2010, pp. 177-184.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Escenografías urbanas de Buenos Aires: memoria, espacio e identidad en El común olvido de Sylvia Molloy”. Latin American Literary Review LALR, vol.74, 2010, pp. 63-81.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. “Deconstruyendo a Apolo: transposiciones ovidianas para una lectura del poder en ‘Cambio de armas’ de Luisa Valenzuela”. Mester XXXVIII, 2009, pp. 15-25.

Fiore Urízar, Rafaela. Foreword. Antología poética (1994-2004), by Fernando Pistilli, Servilibro, 2004. 

Grant Funding

ESPHA Grant (2022–2024)

Title: Embracing Spanish for the Professions at Home and Abroad
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Education (Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program)
Amount Awarded: $159,692
Principal Investigators: Dr. Rafaela Fiore-Urízar and Dr. Ryan Medders

Summary and Achievements:

• Strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration between the Languages and Cultures and Communication Departments,
• Supported faculty-led travel seminars to Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2024) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (2024), integrating Spanish language, media, and culture.
• Developed culturally inclusive and affordable instructional materials for Spanish for the Health Professions, Spanish for Business and the Bilingual Authorization pathway.
• Sponsored cultural and professional events such as the LatinX Film and TV Summit, César Chávez: La Causa Sigue series, and the Heritage Language Teaching workshop with Dr. Kim Potowski.
• Expanded student media engagement through El Eco, the Spanish-language section of The Echo, which provides professional journalism experience and promotes Latinx representation on campus
• Provided field trips to the Latin American Museum of Contemporary Art (LACMA) and Olvera street

ALLICE Grant (2023–2026)

Title: Advancing Language Learning and Internationalization through Curriculum Enhancement (ALLICE)
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Education (UISFL Program)
Amount Awarded: $266,936
Principal Investigators: Dr. Rafaela Fiore-Urízar, Dr. Ryan Medders and Dr. Sophia Khadraoui-Fortune

Summary and Achievements:

• Expanded study abroad and cultural immersion opportunities, including new faculty-led seminars in Puerto Rico and the French Caribbean
• Supported the development of global and career-oriented courses
• Provided professional development through free AVANT language proficiency testing and certification for French, German and Spanish majors and Bilingual Authorization students
• Funded equipment and student scholarships to ensure equitable access to testing and international experiences
• Funded outreach events with high schools and community colleges

Enhanced community engagement through Spanish-language media and collaborative campus projects such as El Eco, and field trips to museums, restaurants and cooking courses.