PhD Candidate, Department of Educational Studies
Sonia Medel is an interdisciplinary researcher-curator-artist completing a PhD in Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia as a Public Scholar, whilst leading diverse curatorial, filmmaking, choreographic, and publishing projects. She has been promoting decolonial intersectional feminist engagement with arts, culture, and education across the Americas for over a decade. Her doctoral project centers the experiences of racialized women, bridging the fields of arts and policy for socio-political transformation. Her broader research interests and areas of expertise include anti-oppressive curricular initiatives and qualitative methodologies, responsible curation, Latin American diaspora and youth, and sustainable intercultural development and education. Medel is also a college and university instructor, always open to teaching engagements. She strives to merge her academic institutional and creative sector experiences to further the inclusion of vulnerable peoples (as identified by the United Nations) and their knowledges in formal physical and virtual spaces of publishing, policy-making, and governance. Most of Medel’s peer-reviewed works can be found on Academia.edu, including her co-edited two-part Special Issue of the journal Postcolonial Directions in Education, 8(2) 2019 and 9(1) 2020, on the (de)colonial power of film and film festivals, a publication project which included mentoring film practitioners and artists in publishing and decolonizing editorial decision-making. Her co-directed film project, From Chile to Canada: Media Herstories, premiered at the 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival, and is currently making its way around the world. A proud Spanglish speaker, Quechua learner, daughter of Peruvian and Chilean parents, and Indigenous-Afro-European descendant, Medel is grateful to the Coast Salish Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples and their lands on which she was born and carries out her work. Please do not hesitate to e-mail her inquiries related to her scholarly and artistic dossiers, employment opportunities, or proposing collaborations, and stay tuned for exciting updates on her in-progress endeavors.
