Curriculum Vitae

Current Position

Assistant Professor of History | Texas State University

Previous Positions

Postdoctoral Research Scholar | School of Transborder Studies, Arizona State University

Digital Public Humanities Fellow | Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State Univerity

Education

2024 | Certificate in Digital Public Humanities, George Mason University

2023 | Ph.D. Department of Chicana/o & Central American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

2021 | Graduate Concentration Certificate in American Indian Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

2020 | Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy & Language Learners, University of California, Los Angeles

2018 | M.A. César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

2015 | B.A. Latina/o Studies & Creative Writing, Hampshire College

Research

Dissertation: “El Río Grande as Pedagogy: The Unruly, Unresolved Terrains of the Chamizal Dispute.”

Committee: Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Dr. Genevieve Carpio, Dr. Sherene Razack, and Dr. Harryette Mullen

Master’s Thesis: “El Río Grande as Unruly Archive: Submerged Histories of the Chamizal Dispute”

Committee: Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Dr. Genevieve Carpio, & Dr. Eric Avila

Research Interests:

Chicana/o Studies, Mexican American Studies, American Indian Studies, Indigenous Studies, Borderlands Studies, U.S.-Mexico Borderlands History, Urban History, Latinx Geographies, Human Geography, Environmental History, Archival Studies, Oral History, Public History, Digital Public Humanities

Fellowships, Awards, & Honors

Academic

Antonia I Castañeda Prize—National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies (2024)

Mary M. Hughes Research Fellowship in Texas History—Texas State Historical Association (2023)

Nominee for WHA Ray Allen Billington Prize—Nominated by American Quarterly Editorial Board (2022)

UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship (2022)

Digital Humanities Summer Institute Tuition Scholarship—University of Victoria, Canada (2022)

Jean Stone Dissertation Fellowship—Center for the Study of Women, UCLA (2022)

Dean’s Fund for the Study of Diversity and Racial Inequality—UCLA (2021)

Inter-University Program for Latino Research/Andrew Mellon Fellowship—University of Illinois-Chicago (2020-21)                        

Honorable Mention for Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (2020)

The Founders’ Dissertation Fellowship—Western Association of Women Historians (2020)

Gold Shield Alumnae of UCLA Fellowship (2019-20)                                                              

Latinx Geographies Best Graduate Student PaperLatinx Geographies Specialty Group, American Association of Geographers (2019)  

Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (2017-2020)                             

Graduate Summer Research Mentorship—UCLA (2018)

Graduate Research Mentorship—UCLA  (2017-18)              

Graduate Dean’s Scholar Award—UCLA (2015)

 

Awards & Honors for Poetry/Prose

Macondo Writers Workshop Scholarship (2019)

1st Place, Meek Award Poetry Prize—The Florida Review (2019)

2nd Place, Summer Poetry Contest Judged by Safiya Sinclair—The Blue Mesa Review (2018)

Nominee for Pushcart Prize— The Normal School (2018)

Nominee for Best of the NetDuende (2018)

Nominee for PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging WritersThe Tishman Review  (2017) 

 

Research Grants

CMAS/Benson Latin American Collection Fellowship (2022)       

Center for the Study of Women Travel Grant—University of California, Los Angeles (2021)

Shirley Hune Inter-Ethnic/Inter-Racial Studies Research Grant—American Indian Studies Center, UCLA (2020)

Institute of American Cultures Research Grant—Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA (2019-20)

Institute of American Cultures Research Grant—Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA (2017-18)

Sander R. Thoenes Division III Research Grant—Hampshire College (2015)

David Smith Division III Research Grant in American Studies—Hampshire College (2014)

Michael L. Plenty Division III Political Culture Research Grant—Hampshire College (2014)

Publications

Articles:

“‘El Chamizal is Ours Forever:’ Rumor, Time, and the Law in El Paso’s Settler Society.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 42.2 (2023): 91-113.

“El Chamizal: An Unfinished Story.” Password 65(3) 2021: 74-124.

“El Río Grande as Pedagogy: The Unruly, Unresolved Terrains of the Chamizal Land Dispute.” American Quarterly 73(4) 2021: 711-742.

 Book Reviews:

“Review of James Mestaz’s Strength from the Waters: A History of Indigenous Mobilization in Northwest Mexico.” H-Water. 2024.

“Review of Alex Wick’s The Red Sea: In Search of Lost Space.” The AAG Review of Books 5(1) 2017: 10-12.

Opinion:

El Paso Mural Glosses Over Chamizal Land Dispute.” Latino Rebels. January 2022.

Encyclopedia Entries:

Elvira Villa Escajeda,” Online Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association. June 2022.

The Chamizal Dispute.” Online Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. December 2021.

Poetry & Prose:

“Black the fig.” Río Grande Review 57 (2022): 10.

“Sombras nada más.” Special Latinx Feature in The Florida Review 42.2 (2018): 35-36.

“Playa de los muertos.” The Normal School 11.2 (2018): 62.

“Prayer after demolition.” The Normal School 11.2 (2018): 64.

“Prayer after demolition in an unrecognized village,” The Acentos Review (2018).

“Her word will land in you.” Blue Mesa Review 36 (2017): 31-32.

“24, next june.” Kweli Journal (2017).

“How to speak.” Duende (2017).

“Even now.” Track//Four (2017).

“Dear river, you are my other self.” Four Chambers (2017): 26-27.

“Preguntas y frases para una nieta Americana.” Huizache (2017): 191-92.

 

Teaching Experience

Postdoctoral Research Scholar: TCL332/HST3012: Mexican American History Since 1900—Arizona State University (2024)

Postdoctoral Research Scholar: TCL331/HST3011: Mexican American History to 1900—Arizona State University (2023)

Adjunct Lecturer: CCAS M105E/ENG M10E: Puro Border: U.S. Latinx Literature from La Frontera—UCLA (2023)

Teaching Fellow: CCAS132: Border Consciousness—UCLA (2022)

Teaching Fellow: CCAS10B: Researching Contemporary Structures and Conditions in Latinx Communities—UCLA (2022)

Teaching Fellow: CCAS100XP: Barrio Service Learning—UCLA (2021)

Primary Instructor: CCAS188-2: “The Borders Crossed Us:” Borderlands Studies at/beyond the U.S.-Mexico Border—UCLA (2021)

Primary Instructor: CCS 188-2: Racial Terrains of Struggle: Displacement, Dispossession, & Resistance—UCLA (2020)

Primary Instructor: ESL25: American Memoirs: Race, Identity, and Language in the U.S.—UCLA Writing Programs (2020)

Primary Instructor: Humanities Dissertation Prospectus Boot CampUCLA Graduate Writing Center (2019-present) 

Peer Mentor: M.A. Mentorship Program—UCLA Graduate Writing Center (2018-present)

Writing Consultant: UCLA Graduate Writing Center (2018-present)

Teaching Assistant: CS101: Chicana/o Theory Chicana/o Studies—UCLA (2017)

Teaching Assistant: CS10B: Chicana/o History & Culture—UCLA (2017)

Teaching Assistant: CS10A: Introduction to Chicana/o Studies—UCLA (2016)

 

Mentorship, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Work

AAG Latinx Geographies Speciality Group Board, Activity & Awards Co-Director (2023-present)

Juntxs/Together Latinx Geographies Collective, Organizer (2022)

The bozalta Collective, Poetry Editor & Managing Editor (2015-2021)

UCLA Bruins of Color Creative Writing Workshop, Co-Founder  (2015-2020)

UCLA Writer’s Den, Site Leader (2015-19)

Chicanx Social Justice Caucus, Campus Organizer (2016-17)

WriteGirl, College Application Mentor (2016-17)                                                                                                                

Conference Papers & Presentations

2023 | Presenter: “A Rebellious Woman & Her Dangerous Story: Oral Histories with Elvira Villa Escajeda, Champion of Residents in Landmark Chamizal Dispute.” Emerging Perspectives in Borderlands History Panel. Texas State Historical Association. El Paso, Texas. March 2-4.

2022 | Roundtable Panelist: “American Quarterly: Workshop on AQ Review and Editorial Process.” American Studies Association. New Orleans, Louisiana. November 2-6.

Panel Organizer and Presenter: “Oral Histories along the El Paso–Cd. Juárez Borderlands: Questioning, Adjusting, and Correcting the Historical Record.” Southwest Oral History Association. Las Vegas, Nevada. April 1-3.

Roundtable Panelist: “Where do you know from?”: Discussing Scholarly Praxes for Geographers of Diaspora.” Latinx Geographies Specialty. Group. American Association of Geographers. New York, February 25-March 1.

2021 | Presenter: “River as Pedagogy: The Río Grande’s Rupture to Settler Time/Space.” American Studies Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico. October 7-11.

Presenter: “Warder v. Laura M Loomis: How Settler Time Dispossessed Mexican Claimants in the Chamizal Land Dispute.” The Line Crossed Us Conference: Lethbridge Border Studies Research Group. Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. June 10-12.

Presenter: “River as Pedagogy: The Río Grande’s Rupture to Settler Time/Space.” Desirable Futures: Time as Possibility, Practice, Politics. American Association of Geographers. Seattle, Washington. April 7-11.

2020 | Presenter: “River as Pedagogy: The Río Grande’s Rupture to Settler Time/Space.” American Studies Association. Baltimore, Maryland—canceled

Panel Organizer and Presenter: “Critical Latina/o/x Geographies: Unsettling Senses of Place and Home.” Latina/o Studies Association. South Bend, Indiana—canceled

 2019 | Presenter: “Unruly Chicana/o Geographies: Settler Colonialism, Whiteness, & Hauntings in the Chamizal Land Dispute.” Latinx Geographies Specialty Group. American Association of Geographers. Washington D.C. April 3-7.

Roundtable Panelist: “Doing Latinx Geographies in the Borderlands: Luchas, Corazón, y Compromiso.” Lighting Paper: Latinx Geographies Specialty Group. American Association of Geographers. Washington D.C. April 3-7.

2018 | Presenter: “Submerged Voices of the Chamizal Diaspora/Archive.” Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. El Paso, TX. August 1-4.

Presenter: “Dis(re)membered Histories of the Chamizal Land Dispute.” Latinx Geographies Specialty Group. American Association of Geographers. New Orleans, LA. August 10-14.

Presenter: “Dis(re)membered Voices of the Chamizal Relocation Project.” Borderlands History Conference. University of Texas at El Paso. El Paso, TX. February 2-4.

 2017 | Presenter: “El Río Grande as Unruly Archive.” National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Irvine, CA. March 22-25.

Participant/Performer: “Unsettling Creative Collaborations.” Unsettling the Americas: Radical Hospitalities and Intimate Geographies from Hemispheric Institute Graduate Student Initiative. York University. Toronto, Canada. October 5-8.

 

Invited Presentations, Interviews, & Workshops

2023 | Invited Guest/Speaker. “Remapping El Chamizal: In conversation with Alana de Hinojosa.” El Pochcast. September 6, 2023.

2022 | Guest Speaker/Presenter. “Elvira Escajeda & The Chamizal Land Dispute.” ENVS B350: Gender & the Borderlands. Department of Environmental Studies. Bryn Mawr College. April 11, 2022. Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Guest Speaker/Presenter. “El Río Grande as Pedagogy.” ERS365: Water Governance. Department of Environment. University of Waterloo. Waterloo, Ontario.

2017 | Reader. “Flor y Canto: el Chamizal” Untested Address Series: Affiliated Project for PST: LA/LA Unconfirmed Makeshift Museum. Culver City, CA.

Presenter. “Rivers Inside Her Name: Stories of Loss, Separation & Bordered Love.” Skype Presenter. Resistant Fluidities. Spanish Department. Colby College. Waterville, ME.

2016 | Presenter. “Racial Scripts along the Borderlands: Taming a ‘Criminal’ Río Grande.” Chicana/o Studies 10A. UCLA.

Reader. “Huizache: A Panel on and Readings from the Country’s Premiere Latino Lit Magazine.” LitFest Pasadena. Pasadena, Los Angeles.

Facilitator. “Otherworld Encounters: Spirits, Memory & Language.” Workshop. MEChA’s 13th Annual Transfer Raza Day. UCLA.

Facilitator. On Ancestral Memory and Visionary Fictions.” Workshop. MEChA Annual Semana de la Mujer. UCLA.

2015 | Reader. “Rivers Inside Her Name: Stories of Loss, Separation & Bordered Love.” Creative Interventions: Presentations of a Selection of Arts and

Social Action Div IIIs Combining Forms of Creative Practice and Engagement with Social Issues/Social Justice. Hampshire College, MA.

Professional Service

UAW 2865 Chicana/o and Central American Studies Department Steward (2021-22)

Graduate Student Representative (2016-17, 2020-21)

Poetry Reader, Macondo Writer’s Workshop (2020)

Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Alicia Gaspar de Alba (2016, 2019)                                        

Professional Affiliations

The American Association of Geographers

National Association of Chicano and Chicana Studies

American Studies Association

Western Association of Women Historians

Mujeres Activistas en Letras y Cambio Social

Macondo Writers Workshop

Community of Writers at Squaw Valley

Las Dos Brujas Writers Workshop