Marta Pascua Canelo

Marta Pascua Canelo is a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Philology, Communication and Documentation at the University of Alcalá, Spain. She holds a PhD with International Mention and an Extraordinary Doctoral Award from the University of Salamanca (2023), where she previously held an FPU predoctoral contract. She earned her undergraduate degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Alcalá. Her research is deeply interdisciplinary, situated at the intersection of contemporary Hispanic literature, gender studies, disability studies, feminist theory, and visual culture.

• PhD in Spanish and Latin American Literature, University of Salamanca (2023)
• Bachelor’s in Hispanic Philology, University of Alcalá

Her work explores the representation of visual impairments and bodily differences in literature by women as forms of feminist and anti-ableist resistance. She investigates how 'poetics of the eye' challenge patriarchal and ocularcentric epistemologies, particularly through the concept of the 'almost blind' as a site of creative and symbolic power. Her research also engages with exocanonical literature, queer narratives, affect theory, and the politics of authorship. She has published extensively in journals such as 452ºF, Perífrasis, and Kamchatka, and has authored and co-edited several books, including the forthcoming No por no ver no veo (2025). Her publications reveal a consistent focus on literary resistance, bodily autonomy, and marginalized voices in 21st-century Hispanic writing.

Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with the Premio ASETEL for best article (2020), the Extraordinary Doctoral Award, and the International Mention from the University of Salamanca. She is an active participant in academic discourse, contributing to edited volumes, book reviews, and interdisciplinary projects such as the SENSOTECA Congress on sensory poetics in contemporary Hispanic literatures. She collaborates with scholars across Spain and Latin America and is involved in public outreach initiatives that bring non-canonical topics into educational settings.

• Premio ASETEL al mejor artículo (2020)
• Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado (2023)
• Mención Internacional en Doctorado

Marta Pascua Canelo supervises and mentors emerging scholars indirectly through her research group GILCO (Contemporary Literature Research Group) and her editorial collaborations. She has contributed to academic training through teaching documents and outreach projects like 'Otra Onda,' which introduces non-canonical topics such as transgender realities and science fiction into educational curricula. Her research is supported by the Juan de la Cierva Formación program, a competitive postdoctoral fellowship in Spain.

She is a key member of the GILCO research group at the University of Alcalá, which focuses on contemporary literature, and contributes to broader academic networks through collaborations with institutions in Latin America and Europe. Her work bridges literary analysis with critical theory, activism, and pedagogy, positioning her as a leading voice in the study of feminist and disability-informed approaches to contemporary Hispanic literature.