Lizette Arellano (she/her/ella) earned a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies in 2013, an MA in Hispanic Studies in 2018 from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and PhD in 2025 from the University of Chicago. Her research interests include Golden Age theatre, medieval and early modern Iberian women writers, gender and sexuality studies, and aspects of visuality. She is particularly interested in what constitutes the female gaze, how it is mediated in theatre, how the male subject is constructed as an object of desire, and the power dynamics and visual processes that come into play. Her dissertation project, “Un retrato me has pedido”: Gender, Beauty, and the Female Gaze in the Spanish Golden Age examines the ways in which the gaze is conceived in women-authored theatrical works, narrative, and poetry, particularly in the works of Ana Caro, María de Zayas, and Catalina Clara Ramírez de Guzmán. Lizette is currently a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the College at the University of Chicago.
Publications:
- “Painting Persuasion: Ekphrasis, Emotion, and Female Sovereignty in Ana Caro’s El conde Partinuplés.” Ekphrasis II. Ed. Frederick A. De Armas and Daniel Holcombe. University of Toronto Press, forthcoming.
- “Gardens of Gendered Joy in Tirso de Molina’s El vergonzoso en palacio.” Bodies Beyond Labels: Finding Joy in the Shadows of Early Modern Spain. Ed. Frederick A. De Armas and Daniel Holcombe. University of Toronto Press, May 2024.
Recent Courses in RLL
- SPAN 10123 Intensive Elementary Spanish (Summer 2021)
- SPAN 10200 Beginning Elementary Spanish II (Winter 2021)
- SPAN 15003 Intermediate Spanish in Barcelona (Winter 2022)
- SPAN 20100 Language, History, and Culture I (Autumn 2021)
- SPAN 21705 Iberian Literatures and Cultures: Medieval and Early Modern (Autumn 2025)
- SPAN 22423 Gender and Sexuality in Early Modern Spain (Winter 2023)