Rosa Maldonado is a University of Arizona Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Mexican American Studies, with a minor in Medical Anthropology. Her dissertation is situated at the intersection of the medical humanities, Chicana/Latina feminist theory, DisCrit, and archival studies, centering the experiences of older immigrant Latina women living with interrelated illnesses such as diabetes, acute chronic pain, and depression. Through a historical materialist lens, her research co-constructs critical medical narratives with participants, challenging deficit-based portrayals preserved within medical imaginaries that pathologize Latina subjectivity. By integrating narrative with discourse analysis of medical records and literature, Rosa examines how knowledge about illness is produced and contested, and how these women actively negotiate and reshape the meanings attached to their bodies and health.
Rosa aims to co-create a publicly accessible, community-based medical archive, ensuring that the knowledge produced through this dissertation remains in the hands of the women and communities who shape it.
Aside from being an academic, she is also a mother to a curious 5-year-old.