Tania L. Balderas

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

The School for Advanced Research (SAR), Research Associate. Santa Fe, NM. Sep. 1, 2025 – May 30, 2026.

Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow. Dartmouth College, Department of English and Creative Writing. June 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM. July 2023.

Doctoral Dissertation: “Resistance Narratives: Storytelling of Transnational Insurgencies in 1960-70s US and Mexico.” (Defended with Distinction)

M.A. in English (First Discipline) and French as a Foreign Language (Second Discipline) from l’Université de Lausanne. Lausanne, Switzerland. September 2013.

MA Thesis: “From Rulfo to Rushdie: The Generic Reconfiguration of Latin American Realismo Mágico to British Magic Realism”

B.A. in Theater Arts with a Minor in French from New Mexico State University. Las Cruces, NM. December 2006.

PUBLICATIONS

Balderas, Tania Libertad and De Santo, Mag. “Names, Confession, and Clothing: ‘Hermaphrodite Abipón Indian,’ Archived in the Criminal Court of the Government of Buenos Aires in 1784”. Transgender Studies Quarterly (Forthcoming).

Azar, Eugenia Cabrera, Pili, Wayar, Marlene and Balderas, Tania Libertad. “To Exist and Resist: A Photographic Essay”. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 1 February 2024; 11 (1): 141–148. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-11131754

Wayar, Marlene and Balderas, Tania Libertad. “In My Mind There Is a Cemetery/Tengo un cementerio en la cabeza”. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 1 February 2024; 11(1): 135–140. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-11131741

Solis, Gabriel Antonio, Balderas, Tania, et al. “Against ‘Normalcy’: A Collective Testimony of Student Workers Organizing During the Pandemic.” International Labor and Working-Class History, 2023, pp. 1–15., doi:10.1017/S0147547923000108.

ACADEMIC CONFERENCES

“Warriors, Godless Communists, and Indecent Women: Representations of Colonial Masculinity and the Language of Counterinsurgency in Cold War Resistance Narratives.” The South-South Forum Virtual Works-in-Progress Series. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. November 18, 2025.

Panel Organizer: “Memories of Fire: Exploring Memory, Violence, and Narration in 20th and 21st Century Latinx/Latin American Literature and Cultural Productions.” Modern Language Association Conference, Toronto, Canada. January 2026. Call for Papers.

“Revolucionarias imposibles: madres, esposas e hijas de guerrilleros en las narrativas de resistencia de la guerrilla mexicana.” International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Bogotá, Colombia. June 2024.

“From Leavenworth to Lecumberri: Prison Radicalization and Solidarity in Red Power Autobiographies and Teatro Chicano.” American Comparative Literature Association, Montréal, Canada. March 2024.

“‘Porque una lucha necesita’ [Because the Struggle has Needs]: The Role of Reproductive/Affective Labor in Insurgency.” South-South Forum: Postcolonial-Decolonial Dialogues. Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH. February 26, 2024.

“La tradición oral re-imaginada en la literatura de resistencia: narrativas de movimientos sociales en México y Estados Unidos de los años 60s y 70s”. Congreso Internacional de Ciencias Sociales Paso del Norte 2022, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, México. October 21, 2022.

“Krik? —Are You Listening?: Edwidge Danticat and Gisèle Pineau’s Storytelling of Masculine Necroempowerment and Feminine Survival”. Northeast Modern Language Association, Baltimore, MD. March 10, 2022.

“Red Power Storytellers: The Autobiographical Narratives of the American Indian Movement.” 2022 Newberry Consortium for American Indian and Indigenous Studies Graduate Student Conference, Chicago, IL. February 5, 2022.

“Storytelling Reimagined: Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s Reconceptualizing of Tradition as Resistance in Aurelia: A Crow Creek Trilogy.” 2021 Newberry Consortium for American Indian and Indigenous Studies Graduate Student Conference, Chicago, IL. February 3, 2021.

“Teaching Radical Hope: Towards the Critical Reevaluation of Our Relational Modes as an Educational Model.” Modern Language Association Conference, Toronto, Canada. January 9, 2021.

“The Construction of Franco-Caribbean Female Identity in Je suis martiniquaise and L’exil selon Julia”. Midwest Modern Language Association Conference, Chicago, IL. November 15, 2019.

“The generic reconfiguration of Charles Perrault’s ‘Le petit chaperon rouge’ to Gabriela Mistral’s ‘Caperucita Roja.’” 2nd Annual Querencias Conference at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. April 13, 2019.

“International Readings of Hemingway” Round Table. 15th Biennial Hemingway Society International Conference, Petoskey, MI. June 22, 2012.

“From Rulfo to Rushdie: from realismo mágico to Magic Realism”. Magicking Reality in Contemporary Fiction in English Conference at l’Université de Lausanne, Switzerland. Nov. 23, 2012.

WORKSHOPS

The South-South Forum. Translating Indigeneity: Aesthetics, Activism, Solidarities. Workshop Convener. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. June 2024.

“Teatro de las Chicanas: Storytelling and Resistance through Teatro and Activism.” Performance Coordinator/Workshop Organizer. Dartmouth College Intercultural Engagement Conference, Hanover, NH. October 14, 2023.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Postdoctoral Lecturer, English Department. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. Spring 2025. Undergraduate Course, “Theater in the Barrio: Introduction to Chicano Theater.”

Guest Lecturer. “Intersections of Gender, Race, and Class in Social Movements.” Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. November 18, 2024.

Instructor of Record. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. August 2018 – May 2020.

English Instructor. Doña Ana Community College, Anthony, NM. August 2014 – May 2018.

French Instructor. El Paso Community College, El Paso, TX. September 2015 – December 2015.

Teaching Assistant. Centre Tomatis. Lausanne, Switzerland. September 2011 – May 2012.

English Assistant. Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Education. Lycée Blaise Cendrars, Sevran, France. October 2007 – May 2009.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Chekhov Acting Intensive Workshop. Santa Fe Classic Theater. Santa Fe, NM. November 2025.

Course Design Institute. Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning. Dartmouth College, Hannover, NH. December 2023.

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE

Editorial Assistant. Transgender Studies Quarterly, Duke University Press. Sept. 2020 – May 2022.

Translator. El Paso Times, El Paso, TX. February – September 2007.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Foundation Fellowship. The University of New Mexico, May 2022 – July 2023.

Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, March 2021.

The Feminist Research Institute Graduate Student Paper Prize for “Reevaluating Re-Presentation of Franco-Caribbean Subjectivity in Je suis martiniquaise and L’exil selon Julia.” The University of New Mexico, November 2020.

The University of New Mexico Graduate and Professional Student Association, Student Research Grant, May 2020.

The University of New Mexico English Department Travel Grant, March 2020.

Graduate Student Midwest Modern Language Association Travel Scholarship, November 2019.

Honorable Mention Cast, 2001 U.I.L. Area One-Act Play Contest (Josephine Whitaker, Close Ties)

All-Star Cast, 2001 U.I.L. District One-Act Play Contest (Josephine Whitaker, Close Ties)

All-Star Cast, 2000 U.I.L. Area One-Act Play Contest (Woman with Notebook, Chamber Music)

All-Star Cast, 2000 U.I.L. District One-Act Play Contest (Woman with Notebook, Chamber Music)

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Acting, Theater

Mrs. Salazar. Esperanza. Teatro Paraguas, Santa Fe, NM. March 2026

Megan Simmons. Who is Azeban? Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM. January 2026

Malena, Dusty. Flawed Gods: Myths of Mothers and Other Monsters. The Border Theater, El Paso, Tx. April-May 2018

La mujer de Leonardo. Las bodas de sangre/Blood Wedding. El Paso Playhouse, El Paso, TX. August-September 2015

Lady Anne. Richard III, Shakespeare on the Rocks, El Paso, TX. September 2014

Insomniac. 3:00 a.m. (Performance Art). NMSU Black Box, Las Cruces, NM. May 2005

Ofelia. E.S.L. (Stage Reading). NMSU Theater Department, Las Cruces, NM. April 2005

Callie. Stop Kiss, No-Strings Theater Company, Las Cruces, NM. April-May 2005

Isabella. A Company of Wayward Saints. Aardvark Theater Company, El Paso, TX. July-August 2004

Victor. Scar Tissue. Montage My Shoes Student Art Movement, Las Cruces, NM. May 2004

Edith. Ballerina. No-Strings Theater Company, Las Cruces, NM. March-April 2004

Beautician. Terminal. NMSU Black Box, Las Cruces, NM. May 2003

Elizabeth Ryan. The Role of Della. Our Lady of the Lake University, Main Stage, San Antonio, TX. Spring 2002

Various Roles. Carpa del Charco. Our Lady of the Lake University, Main Stage, San Antonio, TX. Spring 2002)

La Malinche. La Conquista de Mexico (Puppet Show). Our Lady of the Lake University, Main Stage, San Antonio, TX. Dec. 2002

Masha (Luka). The Brute. Our Lady of the Lake University, Main Stage, San Antonio, TX. November 2001

News Reporter, Maid, Congresswoman. Brand New Con Safos. Our Lady of the Lake University, Main Stage, San Antonio, TX. September 2001

Josephine Whitaker. Close Ties. El Paso High School U.I.L. One-Act Play Contest, El Paso, TX. Spring 2001

Various Roles. In Search of the Golden Teardrop. El Paso High School Theater, El Paso, TX. Fall 2000

Woman with Notebook/Gertrude Stein. Chamber Music. El Paso High School U.I.L. One-Act Play Contest, El Paso, TX. Spring 2000

Renee. The Odd Couple (Female Version) El Paso High School Theater, El Paso, TX. Fall 1999

Honors and Awards: Acting, Theater

Honorable Mention Cast, 2001 U.I.L. Area One-Act Play Contest (Josephine Whitaker, Close Ties)

All-Star Cast, 2001 U.I.L. District One-Act Play Contest (Josephine Whitaker, Close Ties)

All-Star Cast, 2000 U.I.L. Area One-Act Play Contest (Woman with Notebook, Chamber Music)

All-Star Cast, 2000 U.I.L. District One-Act Play Contest (Woman with Notebook, Chamber Music)

Directing, Theater

New Mexico State University Theater Department

Artist and Muse (Performance Art) 2005

3:00 am (Performance Art) 2005

Coser y Cantar 2004

Montage My Shoes Student Art Movement

Lost 2004

Purgatory 2004

Scene Work

New Mexico State University Theater Department

The Puppet Show 2005

Lysistrata 2005

The Glass Menagerie 2004

Stupid Kids 2004

Assistant Director

Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, TX. Spring 2002

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)

Latin American Studies Association (LASA)

LANGUAGES

English, Spanish, and French

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