Paola Prieto López is Assistant Professor in the English, French and German Philology Department at the University of Oviedo. She has also taught at the University of Utah.
Paola holds a PhD from the University of Oviedo (2021; cum laude), an MA in Language Pedagogy (University of Utah, 2015), an MA in Spanish Language and Linguistics (University of Oviedo, 2015) and a BA in English Philology. Between 2016-2019 she worked as a Marie-Curie early-stage researcher for the EU-funded “Gender and Cultures of Equality in Europe” (UE-15-GRACE-675368). Her research interests include Black British theatre, diaspora and gender studies. She has published in indexed journals (Atlantis) and publishing houses (Routledge). In addition, she has participated in and organised numerous transfer and outreach activities and presented papers at several national and international conferences.
Paola is a co-investigator for “Gender, Affect and Care in the Twenty-First Century British Theatre” (PID2021-126448NA-I00), a three-year research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the EU European Regional Development Fund (FFI2016-75443), and a member of the research group “Intersections: Contemporary Literatures, Cultures and Theories”, funded by the Asturian R+D+i Plan (2014; 2018).
She also participated as a researcher in the national project “Cosmopolitan Strangers: Alternative Worlds in Contemporary Writing” (RTI2018-097186-B-I00) and in the Research Network “Anglophone Literatures of the XXI Century: Narrative and Performative Spaces” (RED2018-102678-T). Previously, she was a researcher in the projects “Cosmopolitan Scotlands” (University of Oviedo, PAPI-18-EMERG-3) and MuSSel (Multilingual Spoken Second Language, University of Utah), and collaborated with the project “Reporting Refugees” (Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and World Association for Christian Communication).
Contemporary British Theatre
(forthcoming): with Verónica Rodríguez, “Black Women’s Health and Theatre: Staging Care in Mojisola Adebayo’s STARS and Zawe Ashton’s for all the women who thought they were Mad”, The Methuen Drama Handbook of Women in Contemporary British Theatre. Eds. Rebecca Benzie and Marissia Fragkou. London: Bloomsbury.
2024: Black Women Centre Stage: Diasporic Solidarity in Contemporary Black British Theatre. London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Black-Women-Centre-Stage-Diasporic-Solidarity-in-Contemporary-Black-British-Theatre/PrietoLopez/p/book/9781032494005
2023: “Preface to The Interrogation of Sandra Bland by Mojisola Adebayo”, Extrañezas Cosmopolitas. Antología Literaria. Eds. Cristina Valdés and Lucía Prada. Oviedo: KRK, pp. 52-63.
2023: English-Spanish annotated translation of Mojisola Adebayo’s The Interrogation of Sandra Bland, Extrañezas Cosmopolitas. Antología Literaria. Eds. Cristina Valdés and Lucía Prada. Oviedo: KRK, pp. 52-63.
2023: “Preface to Songs of Love and Warning by Simone Lazaroo”, Extrañezas Cosmopolitas. Antología Literaria. Eds. Cristina Valdés and Lucía Prada. Oviedo: KRK, pp. 70-92.
2023: English-Spanish annotated translation of Simone Lazaroo’s Songs of Love and Warning, Extrañezas Cosmopolitas. Eds. Cristina Valdés and Lucía Prada. Oviedo. KRK, pp.70-92.
2022: La diáspora africana en el teatro contemporáneo: solidaridad creativa. Zaragoza: Pórtico Ediciones.
2022: “The Performance of Black Youth Masculinity in Bola Agbaje’s and Mojisola Adebayo’s Council-Estate Plays”, Performing Cultures of Equality. Eds. Emilia María Durán-Almarza, Carla Rodríguez González and Suzanne Clisby. London: Routledge, pp. 30-43.
2022: entry on “Mojisola Adebayo”, Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Jenni Ramone. https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14798
2022: entry on “Winsome Pinnock”, Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Jenni Ramone. https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14799.
2020: “Black Lives, Black Words: Transnational Solidarity and Collective Artistic Activism”, Atlantis 42: 2, pp. 197-213.
2020: review of debbie tucker green: Critical Perspectives (eds. Siân Adiseshiah and Jacqueline Bolton), Nexus 2, pp. 92-95.
2019: “Preface”, Cuadernos bilingües de literaturas contemporáneas: No es país para negras/No Country for Black Women. Silvia Albert Sopale. Oviedo: KRK, pp. 11-24.
2019: Spanish-English annotated translation of Silvia Albert Sopale’s No es país para negras, Cuadernos bilingües de literaturas contemporáneas: No es país para negras/No Country for Black Women. Silvia Albert Sopale. Oviedo: KRK.
Contemporary British Theatre
2023: “Environmental Justice, Solidarity and the Legacies of Colonialism in Mojisola Adebayo’s Plays,” paper presented at the conference “Imagining Environmental Justice in a Postcolonial World”, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris, 6-10 June.
2021: “Racialized Strangers and the Possibilities of Solidarity in Contemporary British Theatre”, paper presented at the conference “Cosmopolitan Strangers: Performative and Fictional Worlds”, University of Oviedo, 11-12 November.
2021: “Cosmopolitanism and the Ethics of Response-ability in Theresa Ikoko’s Girls and Diana Nneka Atuona’s Liberian Girl”, paper presented at the Conference of the European Association of Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies (EACLALS), University of Glasgow, 28-30 June [online].
2020: “The Interrogation of Sandra Bland: Black Lives Matter in the Classroom”, paper presented at the conference “Theatre and Co-education”, Santander, 3-15 September.
2019: “Black British Drama: Transnational Solidarity in Mojisola Adebayo’s Plays”, paper presented at the XXXXIII International Conference of the Spanish Association of Angloamerican Studies (AEDEAN), University of Alicante, 13-15 November.
2019: “Decolonising Theatre: Transnational Feminist Solidarity in Black British Drama”, paper presented at the conference “Gender and Cultures of In/Equality in Europe: Visions, Poetics, Strategies”, University of Utrecht, 7-9 March.
2018: “Beyond Empathy? A Study of Audience Reception of Silvia Albert Sopale’s Plays”, paper presented at the 3rd International Congress of Young Researchers in Theatre Studies (CIJIET), University of Santiago de Compostela, 24-26 October.
2018: “Hybrid Afrodiasporic Theatre(s): Blurring Paradigms”, paper presented at the 14th Conference of the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE), Masaryk University, Brno, 29 August-3 September.
2018: “Black Lives, Black Words: Transnational Feminist Solidarities in Black British Drama”, paper presented at the conference “In/Equalities: Narrative & Critique, Resistance & Solidarity”, Central European University, Budapest, 3-5 May.
2017: “There is Black in the Union Jack: Staging Black Britain in Bola Agbaje’s Plays”, paper presented at the conference “Diasporic Encounters, Subjectivities in Transit: Race, Gender, Religion and Sexualities in the African Diaspora”, University of Málaga, 13-17 June.
2017: “Writing from the Fringe: Black British Experience in Urban Drama”, paper presented at the conference “Performing the Urban. Embodiments, Inventories, Rhythms”, Conference of the European Association of Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies (EACLALS), University of Oviedo, 3-7 April.
Contemporary British Theatre
2024: “Reflective Solidarity and the Transformative Potential of Emotional Discomfort in Rachel De-Lahay’s My White Best Friend and Other Letters Left Unsaid“, paper presented at the seminar “Solidarities: Creative Coalitions in World-Travelling Narratives and Performance”, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 31 January.
2023: participation in the study day on care in/and twenty-first century British theatre within the project “Gender, Affect and Care in Twenty-First Century British Theatre”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia i Comunicació, 24 February.
2023: Organiser and member of the scientific commitee of the II Congreso Internacional de Literaturas Africanas “Representaciones de la solidaridad en las literaturas de África y de sus diásporas”, Universidad de Oviedo, 23-25 October.
2021: dissemination of the research derived from the doctoral thesis on the TESELAS program of the regional television of Asturias TPA, season 8, episode 8. https://rtpa.es/video:Teselas_551624869421.html
2020: creation of documentary “Un cuerpo propio” about Ximena Vera’s play of the same name, activity funded by the Asturian Institute for Women. https://vimeo.com/438527029
2020: “Ethics and solidarity in the Theatre of Afro-descendant Playwrights in the United Kingdom”, paper presented at the “International Seminar of African Women: Appearances, Realities and Contexts”, University of Oviedo, 6 October.
2019: participation in the stand “Ellas Cuentan” for the European Researchers’ Night, framed within the UCC+i Annual Activity Plan of the University of Oviedo (MINECO-19-FCT-18-12904; funded by FECYT), University of Oviedo, 27 September.
2019: organisation of the seminar “Mojisola Adebayo: A Retrospective with Reflections on Working Against Inequalities in the Theatre Industry” with the playwright Mojisola Adebayo, University of Oviedo, 19 May.
2018: “Cosmopolitan Stages: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Contemporary Black British Drama”, paper presented at the seminar “Cosmopolitan Scotlands”, University of Oviedo, 15 November.
2018: direction and edition of the documentary “Interviews and Scenes from No Country for Black Women” about Silvia Albert Sopale’s play No country for black women. https://footnotesonequality.eu/videos/
2017: curation of the public exhibition “Creating Urban Cultures of Equality” with images belonging to the GRACE project within the framework of the “IV Meeting for Equality” held on the occasion of International Women’s Day, University of Oviedo, 6 October-13 March.
Other
2019: curation of the group exhibition “Footnotes on Equality”, with images and objects from the GRACE project, Casco Art Institute of Utrecht, 8-12 March. https://casco.art/en/ program/grace
2019: co-creator of the mobile app “Quotidian App”, an interactive, multisensory application for iOS and Android with feminist quotes. https://quotidian.app.
Contemporary British Theatre
2023: María Durán Eusebio, “Contemporary Black Feminist Writing (2011-2017): Challenging the Praxis of Interculturality” (member of the examining board).
Other
2023: Lydia Weir, “Estética queer en las adaptaciones teatrales de películas de culto cásicas”.