Assistant Professor of Spanish
Biography
Maria Ximena Postigo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Languages and Cultures at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pittsburgh. Grounded in the fields of Latin American cultural studies and ecological posthumanism, her scholarly work focuses on Latin American indigenous philosophies and literature from colonial times to the present, with a particular emphasis on the Andean region. Her research interests also include contemporary women's Latin American poetry, nonfiction literature, and narratives of displacement. Her work delves into non-Western forms of knowledge that unveil epistemologies obscured by the multifaceted impact of colonization. It underscores the role of memory as a foundational space for alternative paths of knowledge associated with social and environmental justice.
In addition to teaching all levels of Spanish, Ximena's teaching interests revolve around Indigenous studies, postcolonial studies, women’s studies, Andean studies, Latin American literature and philosophy, Latin American cultural studies, and environmental humanities. Her courses integrate materials from these diverse fields of study.
Currently, Ximena is engaged in three research projects: an article analyzing the literary work of Alison Spedding, a book-length study on the works of Indigenous poets Elvira Espejo from Bolivia, Ana Varela Tafur from Peru, and Judith Santopietro from Mexico, and a special issue focusing on the 2019 Bolivian political crisis, which will be published by the Bolivian Studies Journal in the fall of 2024.
Ximena is a steering committee member for the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program at SMCM and has chaired the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Senate Committee since 2022. Additionally, she serves as chair of the Bolivia Section of the Latin American Studies Association.