Courtney CallahanVisiting Assistant Professor of Portuguese

Raised in Metro Atlanta, Courtney Callahan holds a B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese from Emory University and an M.S. in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She completed her Ph.D. in Spanish Literature and Culture at Arizona State University (2026), where she also taught language courses at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of cultural studies, psychology, and the formation of political discourse.

 

Her dissertation, titled Rockin’ Romani: Romani Songs of Resistance in Brazil and Colombia, examines how Romani musicians in Brazil and Colombia construct counter-historical narratives through performance and memory. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Michel Foucault and Dominick LaCapra, she explores how music functions as a medium for cultural expression and resistance. She has published audio media on the use of music as a way to evade censorship during Portugal’s Estado Novo (“New State”) regime and Brazil’s ditadura militar (“military dictatorship”). She is also interested in effective methodologies for second-language acquisition.

 

Dr. Callahan has received grants from the U.S. Department of State and the Central European Cultural Collaborative to support her training in critical languages and cultures. She has completed intensive study in Portugal and Romania. In her free time, she enjoys playing chess and trying new foods.

 

-Protest music in the Lusophone and Hispanophone world

-Critical Romani studies (with a particular focus on Romani identity, language and culture within Latin America)

-19th century literature (nation formation and the representation of the subaltern)

-Trauma theory and the ethics of memory