RESEARCH PEDAGOGY
Writing history is a political decision. Every word or sentence we write on paper is based on our experience, interaction, and knowledge of the environment around us. Our history as Mexicans within the contexts of United States history has taken on many different interpretations. Some of those interpretations have labeled Mexicans as outsiders, bandits, and savages. On the other side, Chicano/Mexican historians and scholars have contoured those interpretations by highlighting the critical part Mexicans have played in the development of the United States.
So, in this context, my research pedagogy within the field of Chicano/Latino Studies and History focuses on developing a counter-narrative of labor, migration, and activism histories. This focus has led me to conduct research on the history of working-class Mexicans in California, especially the oral histories of farm workers, families, union organizers, and community activists who struggled for a better quality of life.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Searching For Memories In La Colonia: Migration, Labor, And Activism In Oxnard, California, 1930-1980 (manuscript)
“Aliens In Ohio: Constructing The Narrative Of Mexicans In The Midwest.” (article)
PUBLISHED WORK
“Chicano Communists and the Struggle for Social Justice.” Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 51, no. 2 (Summer 2020)
“They Should Stay There: The Story of Mexican Migration and Repatriation during the Great Depression.” Agricultural History, Vol. 93, no. 2 (Spring 2019).
“Delano Grape Strike and the United Farm Workers Movement.” In 50 Events that Shaped Latino History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic, Vol. II, ed. Lilia Fernández. ABC-CLIO, 2018.
“Another Point of View: Chapter 6 – Affirmative Action.” In U.S. Latino Issues, 2nd Edition, ed. Rodolfo Acuña, ABC-CLIO, 2017.
“Where Are All Of The Latina/os?: Teaching Latina/o Studies In The Midwest.” In White Washing American Education: The New Culture Wars In Ethnic Studies, eds. Denise Sandoval, et al., ABC-CLIO, 2016.
“Rows of Memory.” Western American Literature, Vol. 50, no. 1 (Spring 2015).
“Mexican American Working-Class Activism.” Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 34, no. 1 (Fall 2014): 101-104.
“¡Ya Basta! The Struggle For Justice And Equality: The Chicano Power Movement in Oxnard, California.” In The Chicano Movement: Perspectives From The Twenty-First Century, ed. Mario T. Garcia. New York: Routledge, 2014.
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