Curriculum Vitae

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

  • Assistant Professor

    Department of American Studies

    University of California, Davis

  • University of California President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow

    Department of American Studies

    University of California, Davis

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D Feminist Studies, University of Minnesota (2022)

  • M.A. Chicana and Chicano Studies, California State University, Northridge (2011)

  • B.A. University of California, Los Angeles (2007)

AWARDS & GRANTS           

  •  Equity Graduate Student Fellowship, American Society for Environmental History (2022)

  • Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships, CLA(2021)

  • Jesus Estrada-Pérez Memorial Graduate Fellowship (2021)

  • Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2020)

  • Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship, University of Minnesota, Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) (2019)

  • Community of Scholars Program (COSP) Travel Grant, Graduate School Diversity Office, University of Minnesota (2019)

  • Thesis Research Travel Grant, Graduate School Fellowship Office, University of Minnesota (2019)

  • Graduate and Professional Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award (2018)

  • Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender and Sexuality Studies Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (2018)

  • Beverly and Richard Fink Summer Fellowship, University of Minnesota (2015-2018)

  • Certificate of Appreciation, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Program (2017)

  • Diversity of Views and Experiences Fellowship, University of Minnesota (2015)

  • Community of Scholars Summer Fellowship, University of Minnesota (2015)

  • Rising Feminist and Queer Studies Scholar Award, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program (2014)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE                                                                                            

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  • Blood, Bodies, and Science | Summer 2022 | Undergraduate | Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

  • Migrant Farmworkers in the United States: Families, Work and Advocacy | Undergraduate and Graduate | Chicano Latino Studies

  • Chicana Studies: La Chicana in Contemporary Society | Undergraduate | Chicano Latino Studies

  • Queer People of Color and Indigenous Theories | Undergraduate | LGBT Studies

  • Chicanx Latinx Gender and Sexuality Studies | Undergraduate | Chicano Latino Studies

  • Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality, and Immigration | Undergraduate | Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Metropolitan State University 

  • Race, Identity, and the Internet | Undergraduate | Ethnic Studies

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  • Race, Class, and Gender in the United States | Undergraduate | Gender & Sexuality Studies

  • Introduction to Latina/o Studies | Undergraduate | Latinx and Latin American Studies

  • Introduction to Feminism | Undergraduate | Gender & Sexuality Studies

  • Chicana Feminism and Experience | Undergraduate | Gender & Sexuality Studies

 

PUBLICATIONS                                                                                                           

Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • Towards a Politic of Infiltration: Student Activism and the (Im)possibilities of Undoing the Neoliberal University. (AGITATE! Journal, Forthcoming).

  • Jotería Identity and Consciousness. (Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 2011).

    • Reprinted in (2018) The Chicana/o Education Pipeline: History, Institutional Critique, and Resistance edited by Michaela J.L. Mares-Tamayo and Daniel Solorzano. University of Washington Press.

    • Reprinted in (2020) Autobiography without Apology edited by Chon A. Noriega, Wendy Belcher, and Charlene Villaseñor Black. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press. Awarded a silver medal in the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the category “Education (Commentary/Theory).”

Book Chapters 

  • “Racial Motherhood Ecologies” in Bodies that Haunt: Rethinking the Political Economy of Death. (In Preparation). Edited Volume.

  • Radical Queer Love: A Self-reflection of Pain, Truth, and Healing. Saving Our Lives: Queer Indigenous, Muxerista, Womanist, and Feminist of color Voices. Third Woman Press, forthcoming)

  • Somos Joteria: UCLA Chicanx Latinx Activists Fighting for Social Justice. Transmovimientos: Latinx Queer Migrations, Bodies, and Spaces. (University of Nebraska Press, 2022).

    • Awarded a silver medal at the 2022 International Latino Book Awards in the category of “Best LGBTQ+ Themed Book.”

  • Jotería-Muxerista Love in the Classroom: Queer Brown Feminist Strategies for Social Transformation. Handbook of Latinos and Education. (Routledge Press, 2021).

Encyclopedia Entries 

  • Women of Color Feminisms. Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. (Brill, 2021).

  • Chicana Feminism. Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. (Brill, 2021)

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS & LECTURES                                                            

Refereed Conference Presentations 

2022              

  • “Black and Brown Social Life: Queerness, Spacemaking, and Knowledges of Being.” Paper presentation at American Studies Association. New Orleans, Louisiana. November.

  • “Faithful Witnessing: Towards a Geography of Intimacy and Undoing Ecological Violence.” Paper Presentation at the Oral History Association. Los Angeles, California. October

  • “Que Viva La Jotería: Past, Present, & Future Queer and Trans Activism”.” Roundtable at the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Virtual. April.

2021                

  • “Mexican Motherhood Ecologies: Towards a Mapping of Rural Social Life, Violence & Resistance in Central California, 1980-Present.” Paper presentation at American Studies Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Virtual. November.

  • “Deconstructing Feminist Theorizing: Manifestations of Black, Brown and Indigenous Feminisms Across Moving Borders.” Paper presentation at National Women’s Studies Association. Virtual. November.

  • “Racial Motherhood Ecologies: Towards a Mapping of Social Life, Violence & Resistance in the Southwest Borderlands, 1980-Present.” Paper presentation at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Virtual. April.

2020                

  • “La Lucha de las Comunidades Rurales Latinx: Mujeres Migrantes Mexicanas, Degradación Ambiental y las Implicaciones de Covid 19 en el Centro de California.” Paper presentation at the Coloquio International Sobre Latinos en los Estados Unidos de Casa de las Américas. Havana, Cuba. Virtual. November.

2019                

  • “Rural Mexican Social Life: Spatial Narratives, Environmental Degradation and the Politics of Existing in Kettleman City.” Paper presentation at American Studies Association. Honolulu, Hawai’i. November.

  • “Jotería Thought and Praxis: Engaging Anzalduan Borderland Theories for Living a Queer Latinx Chicanx Life.” Paper Presentation at the International Gloria Anzaldúa Conference. Paris, France. May.

  • “Theorizations of Colonial B/border Violence(s): Trans, Migrant, Muslim and Indigenous Modalities of Existing Across the Americas and Global South.” Paper Presentation at the International Gloria Anzaldúa Conference. Paris, France. May.

  • “The Politics of Disposability: Mexican Social Life, Death and Resistance in Rural Central California.” Paper Presentation at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Albuquerque, New Mexico. April

  • “Chicanxs Without Apology: Honoring the Work of Edén Torres.” Roundtable Presentation at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Albuquerque, New Mexico. April.

2018                

  • “Comunidades En Resistencia: Racialized Violences, Revolutionary Acts, and Worldmaking.” Paper Presentation at National Women’s Studies Association. Atlanta, Georgia. November.

  • “Bodies in Resistance: Presumed Disposability, Contested Vulnerabilities and the Politics of World Making.” Paper Presentation at National Women’s Studies Association. Atlanta, Georgia. November.

  • “Mujeres Pal Frente: Rural Central California, Kettleman City and the Geographies of Violence.” Paper presentation at American Studies Association. Atlanta, Georgia. November.

  • “Critical Insurrections: Decolonizing Difficulties, Activist Imaginaries, and Collective Possibilities.” Paper presentation at Critical Ethnic Studies Association. Vancouver, Canada. June.

  • “Critical Chicana Feminisms: Illegible Theoretical Breaths, Epistemological Violences and the Continual Refusal to Write White.” Paper presentation at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Minneapolis, Minnesota. March.

  • “Tracing Jotería Genealogies: Mapping Queer Chicanx History, Activism and Scholarship.” Roundtable at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Minneapolis, Minnesota. March.

2017

  • “Queer "Men" of Color: Interrogating Intersectionalities of Politics, Bodies and Desire.” Roundtable discussion at National Women’s Studies Association. Baltimore, Maryland. November.

  • “Concerning Rigor: On Brownness and disrupting the Neoliberal University.” Paper presentation at National Women’s Studies Association. Baltimore, Maryland. November.

  • “Sunken Place(s): Critiques on Submersion, Consciousness and Institutionality.” Roundtable discussion at the Association of Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship. Minneapolis, Minnesota. October.

  • “Against Chemical Terrorism: Mexican and Chicana Women Fighting Against Environmental Racism in Kettleman City.” Paper presentation at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Irvine, California. March.

  • “Disruptions: On (Im)possibilities of Resisting the Neoliberal University.” Paper presentation at the University of Minnesota Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Symposium. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April.

 2016

  • “Mapping Violence: Immigration Incarceration and Deportation in Minnesota.” Paper presentation at the Migration Network of the Social Science History Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois. November

  • “Radical Queer Feminist Politics: Understanding Coalitions through Immigrant Rights Activism and Chicana Feminism.” Paper presentation at National Women’s Studies Association. Montreal, Canada. November.

  • “Decentering Theory: The Appropriation/Denial of Chicana and Women of Color.” Paper presentation at the University of Minnesota Sociology Research Institute. Minneapolis, Minnesota. April.

  • “Queer/Fluid Identities: Exploring Chicano Masculinity, Patriarchy and Feminism.” Paper presentation at National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Denver, Colorado. April.

Invited Talks and Lectures

 2021                

  • “Brown Queer Feminist Strategies for Social Transformation.” Invited classroom lecture for Dr. Ezekiel Joubert’s graduate seminar Educational Foundations: Contemporary Social Theories in Urban Education. California State University, Los Angeles. October.

  • “Racial Ecologies, Motherhood and Queerness.” Invited classroom lecture for Dr. Eddy Alvarez’s Chicanx Environmentalisms. California State University, Fullerton. September.

  • “Lenguas Vernáculas of Queer Kinship and Home.” Invited speaker for Otherwise Vernaculars: A Meditation by Dr. K’eguro Macharia with Colin Walker Wingate. University of Minnesota. June.

2019

  • “Environmental Justice, Indigeneity and Race in California.” Invited classroom lecture for Karen Bauer’s American Indian Studies: Indigenous Peoples in Global Perspectives. University of Minnesota. September.

  • “Contemporary Immigration in the United States.” Invited classroom lecture for Kidiocus Carroll’s American Studies: Chasing the American Dream: Economic Opportunity and Inequality in the United States. University of Minnesota. September.

2018                

  • “Immigrant Latinx Youth in Central California.” Invited keynote for the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). West Hills Community College. June.

  • “Decolonization, Environmental (In)Justice and Community Engagement.” Invited Speaker for the Institute on the Environment’s Boreas Leadership Program. University of Minnesota. February.

2016 

  • “Radical Queer Love: A Conversation About Masculinity, Feminism and Love.” Invited speaker for Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life and Tongues Untied. University of Minnesota. October.

  • “Immigration Incarceration and Deportation in Minnesota.” Digital Project for the Humanities Action Lab (HAL). Traveling Exhibit on Mass Incarceration. United States.

  • “Contemporary Immigration Issues in the Twin Cities.” Invited classroom lecture for Dr. Jimmy Patiño ‘s Chicana/o Studies History. University of Minnesota. May.

2015

  • “Queer Chicanx Latinx Activism in the United States.” Invited speaker for Annual Mexico Pride Series. Mexico City, Mexico. June.

2014

  • “Indigenous Day of Remembrance.” Invited speaker for the UNLV Native American Project. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. November.

 

Media and Public Engagement 

2021                

  • “Transmovimientos: A Conversation with Dr. Eddy Alvarez, Bamby Salcedo, José Manuel Santillana Blanco, and Katherine W. Steelman. Invited speaker for the Alchemist Manifesto Podcast with Dr. Mario Obando and Dr. Daniel Topete. November.

2017                

  • “What Does Feminist Engagement Mean in Current Political Times?” Collaborative interview by Kate Drakulic. Clagency: College of Liberal Arts. University of Minnesota. May.

  • “What Does a Muxerista Look Like?” Interview by the Nevada based group The Muxerista Collective. Las Vegas, Nevada. February.

  • “Pulse Orlando and the Queer Latinx Experience.” Invited speaker on KMNV 1400AM/ KMNQ 1470AM La Raza Radio. Minneapolis, Minnesota. June.

2014                

  • “Latinos and the State of Education.” Invited speaker on KRLV 1340AM Radio. Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

SERVICE AND PUBLIC OUTREACH                                                                                     

Service to the Discipline/University 

2022                

  • Advising Committee. Environmental Justice Worldmaking: Redistribution and Reciprocity for a Just Transition. Humanities Without Walls. University of Minnesota and Spelman College.

2021                

  • Panelist. Book celebration and reading for Transmovimientos: Queer Migrations, Bodies and Spaces. Sponsored by the Department of Chicana/o Studies at University of California, San Barbara. October.

  • Reviewer. Journal of Research in Rural Education. Special Issue: Black Lives Matter and Rural Education.

2020                

  • Panelist. LGBTQ+ Graduate Student Panel: Demystifying Graduate Education for Undergraduates. Sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life. University of Minnesota. April.

2019                

  • Advising Committee. Ad Hoc Committee on Interdisciplinary Opportunities for Graduate Students. December.

2018                

  • Conference Review Committee. The National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. November.

2017                

  • Planning Committee. Critical Conversation Series featuring Dr. Grace Hong for the Race and Ethnic Studies Graduate Group. University of Minnesota. April.

  • Panelist and Planning Committee. Anti-Latinx Racism from Charlottesville to the Arizona Desert. Part of the Facing Race: Agency, Social Responsibility, and Intersectional Justice for All Series co-sponsored by CLA Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, JR. Program and the Chicano & Latino Studies Department. University of Minnesota. November.

  • Conference Review Committee. The National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. November.

  • Panelist and Co-Organizer. “What is Cultural Appropriation? – A Teach-in” co-sponsored by the Chicano & Latino Studies Department and the Race, Indigeneity, Disability Gender and Sexuality Studies (RIDGS) Initiative. October.

  • Welcome Remarks and Co-Organizer. “Amor Eterno: Manifesting Generational Love, Queer Sanctuaries, and Radical Solidarities” Conference for the Association of Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship. University of Minnesota. October.

  • Welcome Remarks and Co-Organizer. “Seditious Acts: Graduate Students of Color Interrogating the Neoliberal University.” Symposium for the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Graduate Group. University of Minnesota. April.

2016                

  • Planning Committee. Critical Conversation Series featuring Dr. Dylan Rodriguez for the Race and Ethnic Studies Graduate Group. University of Minnesota. April.

  • Graduate Curriculum Committee. Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department. University of Minnesota.

2015                

  • LGBTQ Committee. Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department. University of Minnesota.

Service to the Local Community

2012                

  • Artist and Co-Designer. Vegas Roots Community Garden Mural Project in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2011                

  • Co-Organizer. “In Spirit as One: En Busqueda del Mundo Zurdo.” The Living Without Borders/Viviendo Sin Fronteras Encuentro for the United Coalition for Im/migrant Rights. February.

2009-11           

  • Organizing Committee. Regional im/migrant Rights Marches for the United Coalition for Im/migrant Rights. Las Vegas, Nevada.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS                                                                                    

2015-2022   

  • Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Group: UMN Co-Chair and Member

2014-Present   

  • National Association for Ethnic Studies: Member

2013-Present   

  • National Women’s Studies Association: Member

2011-Present   

  • Association for Jotería (Latinx LGBT) Arts, Activism and Scholarship (AJAAS): Co-founder and Board Member

2007-Present   

  • National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS): Member and Jotería Caucus Chair