Professor Zandstra's academic interests are Latin American literature; the writings of Griselda Gambaro; the grotesque; and alterity and identity in cross-cultural interactions. She is currently assisting in the editing of a new Spanish/English bilingual interdenominational hymnal and is translating a book on inclusive worship.

Representative presentations include the following: 

• “Self and Other in Vargas Llosa’s The Storyteller.”  North American Christian Foreign Language Association (NACFLA), Wheaton College, March 22, 2014.
• “Alterity and Identity in Deep Rivers and After the Feast Day.”  NACFLA, Westmont College, March 23, 2012.
• “Promesas y desvaríos y la evolución del protagonista grotesco [Griselda Gambaro’s Promises and Ravings and the Evolution of the Grotesque Protagonist].”  Michigan Academy, Western Michigan University, March 7, 2008.
• “Poetry and Prejudice in Buenos Aires:  Gambaro’s Después del día de fiesta and Caetano’s Bolivia.”  NACFLA, Asbury College, March 30, 2007.
• “Grace and the Grotesque in Flannery O’Connor and Griselda Gambaro.”  Pruit Memorial Symposium and Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference, Baylor University, November 11, 2006. 
• “Mujer y memoria en Pedro Páramo [Women and Memory in Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo].  Michigan Academy, Oakland University, March 3, 2006.
• “Strategies of Religious Identification in the Inca Garcilaso and in Guaman Poma de Ayala.”  NACFLA, Trinity Christian College, April 2, 2005.