María Guadalupe Arenillas

Associate Professor, Spanish

Degrees Held:

  • B.A., Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  • M.A., University of Notre Dame
  • Ph.D., University of Notre Dame (Latin American Literatures and Cultures)

Began teaching at NMU in 2010

​​​​​​​Favorite place to visit abroad:

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Favorite subject to teach:

Latin American Film and Literature

More about María:

Dr. Maria Guadalupe Arenillas received her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and spent a year at the University of California, Davis. She finished her dissertation with a pre-doctoral fellowship. During her Ph. D. program, Arenillas researched on topics related to memory in literature, film, and memory spaces. She has taught many years at Notre Dame and also a class at UC Davis.

Arenillas is originally from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital and largest city in Argentina, but she spent part of her childhood in Patagonia and also lived in Madrid, where she majored in English Philology. The cultural life in Buenos Aires is very rich. There’re always lots of things to do. Arenillas loves to go to the movie theaters, and to walk in the city, especially in the warm and humid summer nights.

Dr. Arenillas has published in national and international journals, including A Contracorriente: Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Alba de América, Vanderbilt e-journal of Luso-Hispanic Studies, and Revista Cine Documental. She co-edited with Michael J. Lazzara, Latin American Documentary Film in the New Millennium (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). During 2012-2018, Dr. Arenillas was the co-editor of the series Memory Politics and Transitional Justice (Palgrave Macmillan), and was responsible for the edition of six volumes on Latin American memory politics and transitional justice.

Dr. Arenillas’ current research focuses on Southern Patagonia in documentary film. She is analyzing the relationship between images of indigenous people, law, the State, and science and technology. She is also examining images of Southern Patagonia islands and archipelagos, maritime jurisdiction and territorial conflicts, particularly the Beagle conflict.

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Maria portrait