Silvia Navia Mendez-Bonito
| Silvia Navia Mendez-Bonito – Associate professor, Spanish |  |
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| Email: navia @webster.edu | |||
| Phone: 314-246-7879 | |||
Originally from Navia, a little town on the Northwestern coast of Spain, I completed my Licenciatura in English at the Universidad de Oviedo (Spain). I did my PhD on Hispanic Literatures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a specialization in the literature of the Spanish American Colonial period. For my dissertation, I studied a history of the Kingdom of Quito (today Ecuador), written by a Jesuit at the end of the 18th century, paying particular attention to the patriotic feelings already surfacing in that historical discourse. I continue doing research on the topic and have published several articles and presented my work at different conferences.
I love teaching beginning Spanish, because it gives me the opportunity to share the awesome experience of discovering a different world and experience with my students. I also teach advanced language courses, culture courses on Spain and Spanish America, and advanced seminars on different topics. I am involved in the student club of our department (SILC) because it allows me to informally enjoy the student community. I am also part of the Latin American Studies Program.
To me, besides being a very delicate, challenging and difficult profession, invested with a daunting responsibility, teaching is a vocation and an art. Webster’s wonderful students are my source of energy, inspiration and reassurance.