Dr. Sandy Paola Calahorrano, originally from Quito, Ecuador, is a Teaching Associate Professor of and an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research and teaching center on Latin American women’s writing, visual culture, gender studies, and health humanities. Her scholarship offers a critical lens on the body as a racialized and sexualized construct, with particular attention to representations of the female body in Hispanic cultures and its intersection with the medical establishment. She holds a BA in Communication and Literature from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. After a career as a journalist and culture and arts editor in Quito, she moved to the United States to pursue an MA from the University of Arizona and a PhD from Boston University.
Since 2018, Dr. Calahorrano has taught more than 35 sections of Spanish at Pitt, spanning language courses, upper-level literature and culture electives, and courses taught in English. She has designed and developed several original courses, including Span 1459: Mapping the Female Body: A Cultural Approach to Women’s Health in the Hispanic World, Span 1451: “Disruptive” Bodies: Stories of Illness and Disability, Span 1315: Spanish for Professional Communication, and Span 1323: Medical Spanish. Beyond the classroom, she has served as academic advisor for undergraduate minors, faculty advisor for the Pitt Club de Español, and director of several honors theses on topics ranging from healthcare disparities among Hispanic American women to reproductive technology in Argentina.
Dr. Calahorrano’s recent publications include “La hija única e In vitro: escrituras que impugnan la institución médica y la romantización del cuerpo reproductivo”, published in Acápite (Universidad Iberoamericana, 2025), and “Pedagogía feminista en las humanidades en salud”, published in Clepsydra (Universidad de La Laguna, 2023). She has presented her work at conferences in the United States, Spain, Ecuador, and France, including the Latin American Studies Association and NeMLA.
Classes Taught at Pitt
• Span 0082: “Latin America Today”
• Span 1055: “Introduction to Hispanic Literature”
• Span 1250: “Hispanic Civilizations”
• Span 1280: “Overview of Latin American Literature”
Created and Redesigned Courses at Pitt
• Span 1315: “Spanish for Professional Communication”
• Span 1417: “Latin American Film and Media.” Topic: “Mexican Visual Culture: Nation, Identity, and Gender”
• Span 1433: “Women’s Narratives in Latin America.” Topic: “Women’s reflections through canonical and non-canonical mediums.”
• Span 1459: “Mapping the Female Body: A Cultural Approach to Women’s Health in the Hispanic World”
• Span 1451: “Disruptive” Bodies: Stories of Illness and Disability
Degrees
• PhD, Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Boston University
• MA, Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, University of Arizona
• BA, Journalism and Literatures, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Selected Publications
• “Nunca estuve sola: la imagen testimonial en voz femenina”. Crítica, memoria e imaginación en la literatura latinoamericana. Vicente Robalino, Editor. Centro de Publicaciones, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador: Quito, 2018, p. 47-71.
• “Cuerpo y muerte: la sexualidad que exhala Alejandra Pizarnik a través de la muerte deseada”. Divergencias, Revista de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, Volumen 8, Número 2, Invierno 2010, p.92-100.
• “Pedagogía feminista de las humanidades en salud: una aproximación al cuerpo de la mujer a través de la literatura y el cine”. Clepsydra. Revista internacional de estudios de género y teoría feminista, No. 25, November 2023.
Areas of Specialization
• Contemporary Latin American women’s writing
• Visual culture with an emphasis on film and photography
• Cultural and Gender Studies
• Feminism, reproductive rights, and feminist pedagogies
• Health Humanities