Gloria Estela González Zenteno
Office
Robert A. Jones '59 House 111
Tel
(802) 443-5074
Email
gonzalez@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
On leave AY 2023/2024

Professor Gloria Estela González Zenteno was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. She has a Licenciatura in Hispanic literatures from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, an M.A. and a Master’s degree in Latin American literature from the Stony Brook University, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the Solstice program. An avid slow traveler (not a tourist!), she has lived in Frankfurt (Germany), New York City, La Paz (Mexico) and Cagliari (Italy). She looks forward to moving to Puerto Vallarta, Barcelona, and / or Amsterdam for her next sabbatical.

Professor González has published extensively on the function of animal imagery and the figures of the reader, the writer and the sweep of literary traditions in Augusto Monterroso (Guatemala) and Juan José Arreola (Mexico).

But her passion is in creative writing. She writes in English and Spanish about characters that stand in the intersections of diverse sexualities and natural environments. Her creative work is featured in the Barcelona Review, Cronopio, Flyway, The Fem, the Revista Mexicana de Literatura Contemporánea, Salon, and Solstice Literary Magazine. Her current project, The Age of Aquarius, is a memoir about being gay in conservative Mexican and American societies. At Middlebury, Professor González teaches fiction and nonfiction, Latin American and Latino narrative, and all levels of Spanish language. She lives with her wife, her children, their dog and two cats.

On her free time she likes bailar, pasear, conversar y bien comer.  

Courses Taught

Course Description

Latinex Stories of Resistance
How do marginalized peoples in Latin America resist oppression? Indigenous women in Cherán, Mexico expel the triple mafia of drug gangs, government, and police from their town; in colonial times, a nun takes on the Catholic church hierarchy to protect the right of girls to their education. In this seminar students will read stories of resistance to oppression and learn how communities and individuals can take on and overcome misogyny, environmental injustice, slavery, and structural violence. They will convey their findings in a variety of forms, including personal essays, historical fiction, and public presentations.

Terms Taught

Fall 2019

Requirements

AMR, CW, SOC

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Course Description

Latin American Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024

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Course Description

Beginning Spanish II
This course is a continuation of SPAN 0101. Intensive reading, writing, and oral activities will advance students’ proficiency in Spanish in an academic setting. (SPAN 0101 or placement exam) 6 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2022

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Course Description

Intermediate Spanish
This accelerated course is designed to review, reinforce, and consolidate the linguistic structures that students need in order to reach the intermediate level of proficiency in Spanish. A grammar review will accompany intensive language acquisition, vocabulary expansion, readings, discussions, and compositions. (Placement test required) 3 hrs. lect., 1 hr. drill.

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Spanish for Heritage Speakers
This course is specifically designed for heritage speakers, i.e., individuals who grew up speaking Spanish at home but were formally educated in another language, or individuals from similar contexts. In this course students will learn about different aspects of their own varieties of Spanish, social perceptions towards them, and how these varieties are valid forms of communication. Additionally, students will study grammatical differences between their varieties of Spanish and a more formal, academic Spanish. The grammatical aspects will primarily focus on written Spanish, vocabulary, and verb tenses that tend to vary in different varieties of Spanish. (by placement exam or waiver) 3 hrs. lct.

Terms Taught

Spring 2023

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Resistencia Latinex
How do Latinex people resist oppression? Chilean survivors of the Pinochet dictatorship preserve their historical memory through textile art; Mexican Indigenous women expel the triple mafia of drug gangs, government, and police from their town; in Vermont, migrant workers sustain the dairy industry and themselves despite structural and institutional violence. Through stories of resistance to oppression, students will learn how communities and individuals take on misogyny, environmental injustice, slavery, and or structural violence. They will convey their findings in personal essays, historical fiction, and public presentations. In Spanish. 3 hrs. lect. (SPAN 0220 or by placement) (not open to students who have taken FYSE 1557)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020

Requirements

AMR, LNG, NOR

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Course Description

Advanced Conversation
In this course we will focus on the development of oral skills in Spanish at the advanced level. Students will also be exposed to cultural context in Spanish, through which they will be introduced to social and political trends in the Spanish-speaking world. Through oral exams, presentations, debates, and other forms of oral assessment, students will deepen their oral skills, as well as their understanding and production of oral expression in the target language. The course will give special attention to communicative skills in Spanish, particularly speaking (including pronunciation) and listening. The instructor may choose specific grammar points for review when necessary. 3 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Creative Writing: Long Form Narrative
This course offers students the opportunity to advance in creative writing in Spanish. Students will create a long-form work—a novella, a collection of interrelated short stories, or a collection of interrelated autobiographical narratives. Through workshops and analyses of literary models, students will develop narrative and stylistic techniques to produce at least twenty-five pages of polished creative work around a unified topic. Prior creative writing experience would be helpful. (Senior Majors or by approval) 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2022

Requirements

AMR, ART, LNG

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Course Description

Independent Study
The department will consider requests by qualified juniors and senior majors to engage in independent work. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024

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Course Description

Senior Honors Thesis
The department will award honors, high honors, or highest honors on the basis of a student's work in the department and performance in SPAN 0705. (Approval only)

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024

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Areas of Interest

Creative fiction and non fiction, Latin American contemporary literature.

Latino literature in Spanish / Latin American fantastic literature / magical realism / Augusto Monterroso

Publications

Maga.” Revista Cronopio. November 2015.

 Arribada.” (Novel excerpt) Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment.  January 2016.

 “Open Triangle.” The Fem Literary Magazine.  December 2015.

Maga.” (Fiction, English) Solstice Literary Magazine. Winter 2014.

Ambistoma mexicanum.” (Fiction, English) Cobalt Review. 2013. 

 “Ambistoma mexicanum.” (Fiction, Spanish) Revista de literatura mexicana contemporánea 54, 2013. 67-72.

Bajo el colchón”. The Barcelona Review: International Review of Contemporary Fiction. May 2002.