Karla Yaritza Maravilla Zaragoza

Karla Yaritza Maravilla Zaragoza (she/her/ella) is a first-year English Ph.D. student and a Joseph Gaia Distinguished Fellow in Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. As a scholar, her passion lies in advocating for greater representation of Chican@/Latinx experiences in literature and education. As such, she is interested in conducting research through Chicana Third Space and Postcolonial critical theories to explore storytelling as a cultural resource against trauma and discrimination, assess the role of spirituality within Chican@/Latinx culture, and implement a multidirectional feminist praxis within a broad analysis of 20th/21st-century literature. Her ultimate goal is to advocate for using Curanderismo (traditional Latinx folk healing) in the U.S. public health care system to increase accessibility for lower-income families.

In addition to conducting research and writing essays, she is a Washington-based poet whose work explores illness, myth, and sacrifice detailing the experiences of migrant farmworkers in the Yakima Valley, the borderlands, and across the United States. She was the first poet featured in Poetry Northwest’s “Presenting” series for up-and-coming poets, praised for her language and aesthetic, described as “an agricultural beat, a field worker’s beat, a hot beat—[that] becomes prayer.” Her manuscript “La Casa Negra” was a 2022 semifinalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize through Letras Latinas at Notre Dame. Her favorite poets are Natalie Diaz, Xavier Cavazos, and Natalie Scenters Zapico.

Educational Background:

Central Washington University, BA—English Language and Literature & Professional and Creative Writing, Summa Cum Laude.

Recent Scholarly Activities

Publications:

“Caulked by the Linoleum Roses, I Read You the Song of Dimples,” Volume 16, Number 2, Winter & Spring 2022, Poetry Northwest.

Presentations:

“Mestizaje through Epidemic: Curanderismo as Spiritual Healing in Alejandro Morales’ The Rag Doll Plagues.” Paper presented February 26th, 2022 at the 43rd annual SWPACA conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Positions Held:

Editorial Assistant, Notre Dame Review, Department of English at the University of Notre Dame (Sept. 2023-Present).

Research and Teaching Assistant, Ronald E. McNair Office, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA (Feb. 2023–June 2023). As a McNair Fellow and TA, Karla led small group lessons, conducted office hours, graded coursework, set up student projects, aided in the supervision of students, and taught research methodologies and design to the 2023 cohort of CWU McNair Fellows who were preparing for Summer research and graduate applications across various disciplines.