Bio

Mônica Carvalho Gimenes is a Lecturer in Portuguese at the Stanford Language Center. With over 10 years of experience in language and literature instruction, she integrates her expertise in Brazilian and broader Latin American literatures into her teaching practice. In the Portuguese-language classroom, she fosters collaborative spaces for cultural and linguistic exploration.

She is currently working on her first book, Writing Life: Creating Resistance to Feminicidal Violence in Latin America. The book examines how 21st-century Latin American writers and artists respond to ongoing violence against women. Drawing on decolonial feminist theories, she treats feminicide as a complex concept that encompasses different forms of violence affecting women and reveals how gender operates in Latin America. Her analysis focuses on novels, short stories, and other creative works that humanize women targeted by violence and create space for mourning and resistance. These works mobilize imagination, defamiliarizing readers from dominant narratives that make such violence seem ordinary or inevitable.

Before joining Stanford University, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University. She earned her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2024 and is a double alumna of Florida Atlantic University (M.A. '15, B.A. '13). Her pedagogical excellence was recognized in 2021 with UC Berkeley's Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award.

Academic Appointments

2025-26 Courses