Vivian Arimany

Biography

Vivian is originally from Guatemala City, Guatemala and received a BA in Comparative Literature and French from Beloit College, Wisconsin, in 2019. She is an MA student in Hispanic Cultural Studies at Michigan State University and is also a graduate teaching assistant in Spanish. 

Broadly speaking, Vivian’s research interest revolve around queer and gender studies in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly around women’s poetry and has presented papers concerning gender and women’s studies in Latin American fiction at numerous conferences. Her current research explores queer maternity expressed through nature imagery in the poetry of Gabriela Mistral. She is also interested in queer temporality and discourses of the body as a political site of resistance. 

Beyond her academic interests, Vivian is also an avid poetry writer and reader and published a chapbook back in Guatemala titled “Condiciones Irrevocables” (Irrevocable Conditions) through Fundación Yaxs. Furthermore, she has developed a passion for literary translation and her translations of Frida Kahlo’s interviews are forthcoming from Melville House Books. 

Prior to becoming a graduate student, Vivian lived in New York City and worked as an editorial assistant at the literary magazine The Evergreen Review. 

Research Interests: Queer and Feminist Theory, Queer Film, Women Authors, Latin American Science Fiction, Translation Studies, Poetry, Teaching Spanish as a Second Language