Nathalia P. Hernández Ochoa, Ph.D.

I am a first generation Salvadoran scholar and an interdisciplinary decolonial feminist researcher within the realms of visual ethnography, storytelling, and poetry. My work has focused on highlighting Indigenous, Mestiza and Afro-descendant women’s struggles and contributions as social agents of change in Latin America. My overall topics of interest include intersecting forms of violence based on gender, race, class, and sexuality in Central America. My dissertation titled “Curanderas: Maya Women Resisting Violence Through Theater that Heals in Guatemala” centers Maya Kaqchikel women's theater work and healing practices as a tool for personal and collective transformation. This project has led me to thinking more about social trauma and collective healing actions led by Indigenous and Mestiza women based on ancestral forms of knowledge. I am an ethnographer and an advocate for social justice and joy in knowledge production settings and processes. I have volunteered for different government and non-government organizations throughout Latin America as a Gender and Youth Specialist. I enjoy traveling, poetry, and artivism as part of my personal and academic life. I care deeply about the communities and social issues I teach about. Many of my publications are in English and Spanish and include poetry, photography, performance, and other creative forms of storytelling.