On August 1, 2025, the Institute for Latino Studies had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Maryam Ivette Parhizkar to the team as a postdoctoral fellow. After completing her Ph.D. in American Studies and African American Studies at Yale University, Dr. Parhizkar joins the ILS community to continue her research at the intersection of race, aesthetics, and colonialism in the hemispheric Americas from the turn of the 20th century to the present. She previously earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Columbia University and a Master of Arts in American Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Dr. Parhizkar’s work explores how diasporic and indigenous creators engage with material culture to think through the legacies of loss resulting from colonization. At ILS, she will focus on exploring Central American cultural production and the Central American experience in the U.S. Her interdisciplinary approach aligns closely with the institute’s mission to deepen understanding of Latino communities.
As part of the institute’s Hispanic Heritage Month programming, Dr. Parhizkar presented her research in a special colloquium on October 8. Her presentation, “Accumulating Mexicanidad, Refashioning the Self: Rosa Covarrubia’s Transnational Aesthetics,” received thoughtful feedback from Latino Studies Faculty Fellows, as well as affiliated faculty from the department of American Studies. The insights she gained will inform her development of this project into her first book. Following that, she plans to pursue a second project examining the Salvadoran diaspora’s perceptions of Blackness and Indigeneity in shaping national identity.
Dr. Parhizkar is also excited to share her scholarship through teaching. In the spring semester, she will offer a new course titled Central American Narratives in the U.S.
“I would really love for people to come and take my class in the spring. There are not many courses like it in the U.S. It’s one of the few courses of its kind that’s being taught anywhere,” she said. “We’re really going to look at the ways that the Central American experience in diaspora is narrated by Central Americans themselves and that’s really the focus of the entire class. To think about a Central American diaspora literature as a body of work feels really exciting and also really important in this time.”
A few months into her new position, Dr. Parhizkar says she is most looking forward to the community at Notre Dame. She says, “I really love the intellectual community here, especially at ILS. I hadn’t fully realized how there are so many different people that I could talk to in so many different disciplines that somehow intersect with my work.”
Complementing her academic background is her creative practice as a poet and musician. A CantoMundo Fellow, Dr. Parhizkar sees poetry as a means of processing and reflecting on the ideas that emerge in her research. Since the completion of her dissertation, she looks forward to dedicating more time to writing poetry and working with a collective of poets and filmmakers.
Originally from Houston, Texas, Dr. Parhizkar relocated to South Bend with her husband and toddler, marking their first time in the Midwest. She enjoys visiting Howard Park with her son and writing at local coffee shops. She describes herself as intuitive, nerdy, and with a good sense of humor—qualities that make her a natural fit for the Institute for Latino Studies’ welcoming and intellectual community.