I am a historian of Latin America and the Caribbean specializing in modern Mexican history. My primary goal as a teacher is to develop young adults into capable and compassionate scholars. By utilizing the methods of historical inquiry my students hone their abilities to articulate clear and persuasive arguments, interrogate primary and secondary sources, and reconceptualize dominant historical narratives. These learning outcomes are grounded in critical thinking, sound reasoning, and cogent writing, the fundamental skills of a liberal arts education.
My research explores the vital roles of the built and natural environments in the development of transnational Mexican migration. I am particularly interested in how modernist ideology, rural industrialization/infrastructure, and environmental change intensified Mexican migrant flows to the United States. Furthermore, I examine how these factors contributed to the criminalization and racialization of Mexican migrant mobility and Latino/a citizenship in the U.S. My first book project and publications explore these themes as well as the evolution of Mexican communal land tenure and processes of urbanization in Mexico’s western and northern borderlands regions.
I received a Ph.D. in History from Stanford University in 2019. As a grad student I was awarded the Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity’s Ernesto Galarza Prize for Excellence in Graduate Student Research as well as the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies’ Best Graduate Essay prize. My graduate and postdoctoral research was supported by a Fulbright grant, a UCSB Professional Development grant, and a Stanford Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Fellowship.
Education
Ph.D. in History, Stanford University
M.A. in History, California State University, Fresno
B.A. in History, Santa Clara University
Book Projects
Mexico's Other Revolution: Rural Technology, Environmental Change, and Transnational Migration
Publications
- “The Communal Roots of Mexico’s Maquila Industry: Urbanization, Land, and Inequality in Ciudad Juárez, 1960-2000.” Latin American Research Review [https://doi.org/10.1017/lar.2024.35].
- “Migrant Flows: Hydraulic Infrastructure, Agricultural Industrialization, and Environmental Change in Western Mexico, 1940-64.” Environmental History 26, no. 2 (April 2021): 231-254.
- “Ejidos, Urbanization, and the Production of Inequality in Formerly Agricultural Lands, Guadalajara, Mexico, 1975-2020.” Land 9, no. 12 (December 2020). [co-author]
- “The Bracero Program, 1942-1964: The Demise of the Mexican Revolution and Birth of the U.S. Immigration Crisis.” CSUF Division of Graduate Studies, 2011.
- “The Geography of Extremism: The Role of Physical Place in the Ideologies of US Hate Groups, Separatist and Survivalist Communities, and Paramilitary Movements.” Historical Perspectives [SCU undergraduate journal of History] 7, no. 2 (February 2002).