Soledad Falabella

Dr. Soledad Falabella Luco is the director of ESE:O, a non profit organization which promotes democratic literacy in the Global South: a series of skills involving linguistic literacy (reading, writing, information seeking and sharing, interpretation and evaluation), human rights, and critical thinking. ESE:O’s work involves research-action projects that focus on capacity building by promoting the production and dissemination of local knowledge according to the highest international standards. ESE:O seeks to empower learning communities with concrete skills for local and global participation in knowledge production and circulation (http://www.eseo.cl).

At ESE:O she currently directs the project “Program to promote the publication of findings of researchers from the ‘South’ in international peer review journals in the field of Sexuality and Reproductive rights”, founded by the Ford Foundation (2006-present). The aim of the Peer Review Project is to promote publication of academic research from the global South in international peer-reviewed journals in the fields of gender and sexuality, human and sexual rights, and reproductive health. 

Until 2010 she directed the social communication and publication component of the Project Introducing gender and sexualities in the academic curricula in Asia, Africa and the Americas”, also funded by the Ford Foundation, which included online support for coordination and systemization of online communication and writing (http://www.sexualityproject.org). This experience was documented in the article “Ese:o and the Sexualities Project: A Critical and Feminist Methodology for Collaborative Online Work” published in a special issue of the “International Journal of Sexual Health” (Volume 21, Issue 4 October 2009, pages 267 – 281) dedicated to the Sexualities Project.

Dr. Falabella brings over fifteen years of experience in academia, and has taught, published and conducted research widely.  Currently she is a professor at the University of Chile’s Gender and Latin American Cultures Center teaching academic writing, critical feminist theory and the history of ideas in Latin America. As an "academic and cultural activist" she is committed to developing creative ways to promote social change by combining pedagogy, research, activism, and the arts.  

Dr. Falabella holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature and Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. Her book, ¿Qué será de Chile en el Cielo?- Poema de Chile de Gabriela Mistral, was based on her doctoral thesis as well as research conducted as a post-doctoral fellow of Fundación Andes (LOM Santiago, Chile, 2003).  She is also the co-editor of Hilando en la Memoria: Curriao, Huinao, Millapan, Manquepillan, Panchillo, Pinda, Rupailaf, the first anthology of Mapuche women poets (Cuarto Propio, Santiago, Chile, 2006) and Hilando en la Memoria, Epu Rupa (Cuarto Propio, Santiago, 2009. She is also the author of the anthology for children Cantando la infancia, Chile y la tierra Americana (Singing Childhood, Chile and American Land.  Poetic Anthology of Gabriela Mistral for boys and girls from 4-6 years old. Santiago, Ministry de Education, 2008) and Competencias para el México que queremos. Evaluación PISA” (Competencies for the Mexico that we love: PISA Evaluation. SEP: Mexico City, Mexico, 2009), a literacy and critical thinking manual for teachers and students of the Mexican public education school system.

Dr. Falabella's experience as the daughter of political exiles profoundly informed her interest in issues of justice, equality and diversity, and in how these issues can and should be expressed in academia.  This unique perspective led to Dr. Falabella to envision ESE:O as a tool through which scholars and academics from around the world could unite in collaborative writing projects, while promoting greater cultural diversity and building international alliances.