Sarah Finley

Sarah Finley is an Associate Professor at the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures of Christopher Newport University. Her research intersects Sound Studies, Colonial Spanish American Literature, and Musicology, with a focus on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Afro-descendant sound cultures in colonial Mexico. She has received grants from prestigious institutions including the Huntington Library and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

• PhD in Hispanic Studies, University of Kentucky
• MA in Hispanic Studies, University of Kentucky
• BM in Vocal Performance, Converse College

Her groundbreaking monographs include Hearing Voices: Aurality and New Spanish Sound Culture in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2019) and Amplifications of Black Sound from Colonial Mexico: Vocality and Beyond (2024). Her work explores auditory culture in early modern convents, race studies, and transatlantic networks of Hispanic women writers.

Scientific awards include:

• Best Article, Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer (2024)
• Provost’s Award for Interdisciplinarity (2022)
• Provost’s Award for Teaching Writing (2019)

Her publications and conference presentations establish her as a leading scholar in decolonial sound studies and early modern Hispanic women’s cultural production.