Dr Karol Valderrama-Burgos

Dr Karol Valderrama-Burgos

Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 4395
Email
kcvb1@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
Room 41
Location
United Colleges
Office hours
Monday 4-5, Tuesday 10-11

 

Biography

Dr Valderrama-Burgos's relevant background spans across the areas of cultural, gender, and film studies, in relation to Latin America and Spanish-speaking contexts. Funded by different grants, she completed her PhD in 2020 and holds an MA in Film and Film Cultures, both from University of Leicester. She also holds a BA in Education with emphasis in Spanish and English languages from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia). She is currently the Director of Teaching for the School of Modern Languages and the co-treasurer of the Executive Committee of SLAS (Society for Latin American Studies in the UK). 

Teaching

With long-standing teaching experience, Karol has been a university tutor since 2014 at different university levels. She has taught language-focused modules (conversational, grammar, and translation/composition classes), and research-led modules on cinemas from Colombia and Latin America and feminist perspectives on Spanish-speaking cultures and contexts.

She has been language coordinator for first year advanced Spanish at the University of St Andrews (SP1001/SP1002), and she teaches on several modules in the Spanish, Comparative Literature and MLitt programmes. Prior to teaching in the UK, she worked as an English language teacher for 7 years in Colombia.

She has gained relevant experience in the roles of Employability Officer and UG Dissertations Convener in the School of Modern Languages (2023-2026), and she took part of the staff working group on creative assessments.

Research areas

Dr Valderrama-Burgos's research interests comprise cinemas from Colombia and Latin America, women filmmakers and writers, decolonial thought, feminist perspectives, and representations of gender. Her work has been published in Latin American Perspectives, Journal of Gender Studies, Canaguaro. Revista de cine colombiano, among others.

Her first monograph, Mujer, diversidad y cine en Colombia: perspectivas de género e imágenes de la mujer en el siglo XXI (2023), is based on the doctoral research that was fully funded by Colciencias (now Minciencias, Colombia). 

In 2025-2026, she co-led Reenacting Women's Lives: Queer Acting, Art and Creation in St Andrews, an EDI initiative, research-led and community-based experience, that promoted diverse and inclusive encounters in St Andrews to interrogate dominant narratives on diverse women. This was made possible in close collaboration with Ciara Rooney (School President for ML 2025-2026) and Emily Hadfield (Spanish Convenor 2025-2026), and with the generous support of the University EDI Project Fund, The Embassy of Colombia to the UK, the University of St Andrews's Students Union, CAS, and the School of Modern Languages.

Selected publications

 

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