Olivia Vázquez-Medina

Dr. Olivia Vázquez-Medina is an Associate Professor in Spanish at the University of Oxford's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, and a Fellow of Wadham College. She holds a DPhil from Oxford and previously taught at Royal Holloway. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary Spanish American fiction, particularly examining how women writers address environmental, gender, and social issues through innovative narrative forms. She explores concepts like 'disquietude' in works by authors such as Cristina Rivera Garza and Samanta Schweblin, emphasizing intersections of aesthetics, gender, and politics.

Her academic background includes a Licenciatura from Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), an MSt, and DPhil from Oxford. She teaches undergraduate Spanish language and literature courses at Wadham and St Hugh’s colleges, as well as graduate supervision in topics like 'The Body in Spanish American Fiction.' Her monograph Cuerpo, historia y textualidad (2013) analyzes historical novels by Roa Bastos, del Paso, and García Márquez, while recent work addresses eco-critical and gendered themes in contemporary narratives.

Dr. Vázquez-Medina’s research themes include ecocriticism, environmental humanities, gender studies, and global south literature. She has received the LS Dembo Prize for her 2022 article analyzing Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream. Her work bridges literary analysis with critical theory, offering fresh perspectives on how literature engages with societal crises and epistemological challenges.