Magdalena Maria Madany-Saa

Magdalena Maria Madany-Saa is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Multilingualism Department at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her work focuses on decolonial pedagogy, indigenous language revitalization, and resisting Western hegemony in education. She holds a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from Pennsylvania State University (2021), an MA in Latin American Studies from Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Ecuador), and a BA in Spanish Philology from the University of Warsaw.

Education:

• Bachelor's in Spanish Philology, University of Warsaw (Poland)
• Master's in Latin American Studies, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Ecuador)
• PhD in Curriculum & Instruction, Pennsylvania State University (USA)

Research Interests: Her research combines participatory action research with Kichwa educators in Ecuador to co-create indigenous language teaching guidelines. She critiques colonial curriculum structures and advocates for southernizing educational practices. Key areas include language policy, translanguaging, and equity-oriented teacher education.

Awards:

• AAAL Indigenous Language Scholarship (2023)
• Esperanto Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (2022)
• FLAS Fellowship (2021)

Projects & Collaborations: Leads the Indigenous Language Resilience project and participates in global initiatives like CaLP Group and Global Virtual Forum. Previously managed educational projects with Ecuador’s Ministry of Education and taught at Penn State, including courses on sociopolitical aspects of applied linguistics and community-engaged learning.

Labs/Teams: Active in the CaLP Research Group (Critical Approaches to Language and Pedagogy) and the Global Virtual Forum on Language Endangerment.