Rafaela Fiore Urizar, Ph.D.

About

Rafaela Fiore Urizar came to California Lutheran Univeristy in Fall 2011 as an Assistant Professor in the new Department of Languages and Cultures. She was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Catholic University of America (2009-2011).

Dr. Fiore Urizar teaches courses in Spanish that range from elementary level language to senior level seminars. Her current research and teaching interests are:

- Dictatorship and Post-dictatorship Latin American Narratives
- US Latino Literature
- Relationship between Literature, Visual Arts and Popular Culture
- Women Writers
- Transatlantic Detective Fiction

Education

• Ph.D. Contemporary Latin American Literature. The University of Chicago, 2009.
• M.A. Spanish Languages and Literatures. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001.
• B.A. Literature. Universidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción" at Asunción, Paraguay, 1997.

Expertise

In my dissertation, "Family Secrets: Memory and Trauma in Times of Freedom," I studied the consequences of personal and collective memory in connection to the historical trauma in Argentina which followed some of the last military governments of the 20th century. My study focused on the memories of people who did not experience directly the horrors of a dictatorship but still present similar behaviors as of the political exiles or direct victims of an authoritarian regime. Specifically, I presented a study of memory and trauma in relation to detective fiction, urban spaces, language and literary ekphrasis. Central topics that permeated throughout the dissertation include the relationship between performance, politics and social life; the transmission of cultural values, memory and identity; national and gender identities; and immigration conflicts and citizenship.

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.

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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.