Fernanda Penaloza

Dr. Fernanda Penaloza is a Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She coordinates SURCLA (Sydney University Research Community for Latin America) and holds a DPhil from the University of Exeter (UK), an MA from Exeter, and a Licenciada from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Her research focuses on Latin American Cultural Studies, critically examining discourses shaping Latin American identities and regional geopolitics, with a particular interest in transnational cultural connections beyond traditional North-South paradigms.

Her current projects include studying the circulation of Latin American cinema in Australia ('Southern Cinemascapes') and comparative discourses of 'primitivism' affecting Indigenous peoples in Tierra del Fuego and Tasmania. Penaloza has authored/co-edited books such as Mapping South-South Connections: Australia and Latin America (2019) and Patagonia: myths and realities (2010), alongside numerous journal articles exploring migration, colonial history, and cultural representation.

• Education: DPhil (Exeter, UK), MA (Exeter, UK), Licenciada (UBA, Argentina)
• Grants: 2016 Small Educational Innovation Grant for 'Enhancing cultural competence and cross-cultural interdisciplinary effectiveness'; 2010 IPDF Grant for 'Integrating Indigenous knowledges to Higher Education Research and Teaching: An Australian-Latin America Dialogue'
• Professional Roles: Former lecturer at the University of Manchester (UK); SURCLA coordinator

Her work challenges Eurocentric frameworks by emphasizing South-South connections, particularly between Latin America and Australia, through interdisciplinary lenses combining critical theory, cultural studies, and historical analysis.