I think our job is to make the Anthropocene as short/thin as possible and to cultivate with
each other in every way imaginable, epochs to come that can replenish refuge. Donna
Haraway (2015, 160)
I'm Ariela Parisi, a researcher, and educator from Rosario, Argentina, currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Rutgers University. My dissertation, "Paths of Memory in Latin American Speculative Fiction" explores the intersection of memory studies and speculative fiction in Latin America. I hold an M.A. in Spanish from Ohio University and post-graduate certificates in Cinema Studies, World Languages Teaching, and Afro-Latin American Studies from Rutgers University and Harvard University's Hutchins Center.
My areas of study are human rights, cinema studies, and speculative fiction in Latin America. I teach various courses, from Spanish as a second language to content classes such as Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Modernity and Identity in Hispanic America.
My dissertation contends that speculation functions as a form of memory, as demonstrated in Latin American speculative texts that draw inspiration from the past to imagine possible futures. Specifically, my research delves into Afrofuturistic works from Brazil, ghost stories about dictatorships in the southern cone, and dystopian narratives that grapple with neoliberal-ecological disasters. As a writer and photographer, I incorporate visual culture from Latin America into my lessons and employ creative writing practices.