DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN

Amanda Parraguez is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University, specializing in 20th-century French literature and film. Her dissertation project, provisionally titled "The Politics and Aesthetics of Symbolization/Desymbolization: Shifts in Representations of Prostitution in French Literature and Film of the Last Century," explores themes of stigma, moral ethics, pleasure, and liberation in the sex work industry through a symbolic aesthetic framework. Her research examines the evolution of representations of prostitution in French literary and cinematic works, particularly in terms of aesthetic strategies of desymbolization as a form of political resistance.

Amanda's academic interests include the literature of prostitution, experimental forms, feminist theory, and sexual politics. She is passionate about uncovering the ways in which art and literature can challenge dominant discourses and amplify marginalized voices, as well as advocate for sex-positive change.