Research
My book, In the Mean Time: Temporal Colonization and the Mexican American Literary Tradition (University of Nebraska Press, 2020), examines time as a colonizing force for Mexican Americans after the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. I argue that Mexican American authors of the late 19th and early 20th century draw on social constructions of time to contest domination and navigate the changing systems of power in the U.S. Southwest.
​
For a more in-depth description, read my interview in Fronteras.
Articles and Essays
"Ruiz de Burton's Contemporary Novel: Multifarious Time in Squatter and the Don"
Aztlán 41.2 fall 2016
This article situates Ruiz de Burton's iconic novel, The Squatter and the Don within nineteenth century transformations to timekeeping and argues that the U.S. was invested in refashioning the past and the passage of time to disenfranchise Mexican Americans through, what Ruiz de Burton calls, "retroactive law."
"Autobiographical Politics in the Contact Zone: Miguel Antonio Otero's My Life on the Frontier"
Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Vol VII
Arte Público 2012
Appearing in the volume edited by Gabriela Baeza Ventura and Clara Lomas, this essay argues that New Mexico governor Miguel Otero fashions himself as a hero of the U.S. West in his 1930s autobiography by drawing on tropes of classic western literature. However, he presents himself, not as a "civilizer" of native spaces and people, but as a "civilizer" of the unruly Anglo Wild West.
"Jovita González and Margaret Eimer's Caballero as Memory Site"
Arizona Quarterly
67.4 January 2011
This article about the co-authored historical novel, Caballero, classifies both the form and content of the book as what Pierre Nora calls a memory site. Doing so helps account for the text’s contradictory historical impulses and its contested position within literary recovery
"Miguel Antonio Otero: Destabilizing Identity in the West"
Western American Literature
43.1 Summer 2008
This article draws on extensive archival research to argue that New Mexico territorial governor Miguel Otero reconfigured dominant nineteenth-century representations of race in the U.S., tactically shifting between mulutiple identifications for himself and other nuevomexicanos. He did soas part of an extensive campeign for New Mexico statehood.
Short Essay
"Secrets of the Archive: Adina De Zavala's Continuing Legacy"
Fronteras 27.1 spring 2020
This short essay appeared in the spring 2020 issue of Fronteras: The Online Newsletter of the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies at UT Arlington. It describes a note by Adina de Zavala in an envelope at the UT Arlington Special collection labeled "do not open" and credits the savvy archivist who organized de Zavala's materials to intice researches to examine them. Read the essay through the link below.
Appearing in the collection edited by Jason E. Cohen, Sharon D. Raaynor, and Dwayne Mack, my essay explores the difficult of designing an online Mexican American Studies course in an era of standardized, utilitarian learning outcomes. I argue that ethnic studies teachers have long smuggled unofficial learning outcomes into their classroom including empathy and ethnic pride. The essay provides strategies for continuing to do so in an an oline environment.
Future Projects
My current research engages with Chicana feminism and early Mexican American women’s writing to recover the work of parteras, or midwives, in the early 20th century along the U.S.-Mexico border. I have become increasingly interested in decolonial methodologies aimed at recuperating women of color’s knowledge and experiences, which often lie in the interstices of archival records. Parteras were integral to the cohesion of border communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and provide a legacy upon which Chicana feminists would later draw.