Twentieth- and twenty-first-century Latin American literature, political theory, religious studies.
BA 2012 University of Notre Dame.
PhD 2019 Stanford University.
Reed College 2020–.
Monica VanBladel is a scholar of 20th- and 21st-century Latin American literature and culture. Regionally, her work focuses on Mexico, and her theoretical interests center on the political valences of religious thought in the region. (What is gained or lost in referring to indigenous traditions as "religion"? Can some Catholic ideas possibly be decolonial?) Originally from Illinois, Monica studied Spanish and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and received her Ph.D. in Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University. She is a committed teacher of language through culture, and her courses support students’ language development at all levels through the study of social movements, film, current events, literary texts, and literary and cultural theory.
Monica VanBladel