María Cristina Burneo Salazar She was born in 1977 in Quito, Ecuador. Burneo completed her higher education in 2003 at the Pontifical University of Ecuador, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in communication and literature with a mention in literature. Three years later, in 2006, he obtained a Master's degree in Cultural Studies, with a mention in Literature at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar Quito, and acquired a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Latin American Literature in 2011 at the University of Maryland, College Park, United States, Mary S. Snouffer Campus Wide Doctoral Dissertation Scholarship.