Paula Hollstein Barria

Teaching Fellow

UG Exam Board Secretary
Deputy Director of EDI (Student Facing)

Intersections of Law with: Abuse; Intimacy and Personal Narratives; Trauma; Psychoanalysis and Phenomenology.

School of Law
S1.02, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

Office Hours (Term 1, 2026/27): Mondays at 11:00 and Tuesdays at 12:00. Please email me in advance to confirm room availability.

Bio

Paula Hollstein Barria is a PhD in Law from the University of Warwick. During her doctoral research, she developed a phenomenological account of domestic abuse from the victim-survivor's perspective. By drawing on personal narratives, and psychoanalytical insights, Paula uncovered aspects of the abusive experience neglected by law, such as the victim's implication and mixed feelings. One of her main goals is to shed new light on the primary harm of this phenomenon: the traumatic feeling of "self-betrayal."

Her current research explores how suffering, particularly anxiety, can function as a mechanism of resistance and potentially become pivotal in shaping how people move forward. She examines the various ways in which legal avenues might facilitate this process while, paradoxically, also constraining or preventing it.

Paula holds an LLB from the University of Chile, an MSc in philosophy from LSE and an LLM in human rights from UCL. Having worked in economic regulatory bodies of the Chilean State, her current academic interests lie in the intersections of the law with abuse; intimacy and personal narratives; trauma; psychoanalysis; and phenomenology.

Teaching Publications