Dr. Paula Cuellar Cuellar, an oral historian of modern and contemporary Latin American history, seeks to shed light on the stories of people traditionally marginalized by society during periods of human rights violation and mass violence.
Cuellar Cuellar, who recently joined The University of Texas at Dallas as an assistant professor of history and a faculty member of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, also was named Fellow, Jacqueline and Michael Wald Professor in Holocaust Studies in the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. She teaches courses on post-conflict societies in Latin America and their transitions to democracy, investigates disappearances in Mexico and Central America, and analyzes genocide in Latin America and its impact on women.
As an international human rights lawyer and a “Central American bilingual migrant woman,” Cuellar Cuellar said her experiences inspire her research. She was most recently a postdoctoral teaching fellow in Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx studies at Bowdoin College in Maine.
“We are thrilled to count Dr. Cuellar Cuellar as one of our accomplished historians,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, Bass School dean; the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair; director of the Ackerman Center; and the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies. “Her research gives voice to those left out of their own narratives.”
Dr. Paula Cuellar Cuellar
Title: assistant professor of history and Fellow, Jacqueline and Michael Wald Professor in Holocaust Studies
Previously: postdoctoral teaching fellow, Bowdoin College
Cuellar Cuellar said her work challenges dominant historical narratives describing the aftermath of violent conflicts during dictatorships, civil wars and periods of extreme violence. One of the goals of these regimes is to operate under secrecy, which complicates accessing written archives, and that is why oral history becomes crucial in these contexts, she said.
Instead, she pursues stories from women, Indigenous people, people of color and people living in rural areas without access to formal education. She researches topics such as sexual abuse perpetrated during the Salvadoran Civil War, mass disappearances of people from Mexico and El Salvador, and the transgenerational impact of war on families and communities.
“These are topics that go underexplored because they’re stories of people traditionally marginalized by society,” Cuellar Cuellar said. “My goal is to provide a platform for these people’s voices to be heard and rewrite or ‘right’ history by incorporating these voices and challenging the dominant narrative.”
It’s the reason she presents her research in multiple formats, including academic papers, book chapters, podcasts and documentaries, she said.
In 2023, she was executive producer of the film “Añil (Indigo),” which was based on her PhD dissertation “Salvadoran Women Speak: Female Accounts of Their Struggle Within a Revolution, 1981-1992.” The United Nations Development Program-sponsored film was presented at the 2023 Ícaro International Film Festival in Central America, where it was named Best Central American Documentary, as well as being recognized at other international film festivals, including the 40th Chicago Latino Film Festival.
“We are thrilled to count Dr. Cuellar Cuellar as one of our accomplished historians. Her research gives voice to those left out of their own narratives.”
Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology
Cuellar Cuellar has held numerous fellowships, including the University of Minnesota’s Bernard and Fern Badz Graduate Fellowship in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and an American Association of University Women’s International Fellowship.
She graduated from the “José Simeón Cañas” Central American University in El Salvador with a bachelor’s degree in law. She earned a Master of Arts in human rights and peace studies from the University of El Salvador and a Master of Laws in international human rights law from the University of Notre Dame. She earned a PhD in history in 2022 from the University of Minnesota.
From 2005 to 2011, she served as a judicial clerk for the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador, for which she was also director of its International Unit from 2011 to 2012.