Assistant Professor, Department of History, Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies

My undergraduate degree is in history and social studies, and I received it from University of Michigan-Dearborn. My master’s degree is in history and women and gender studies from New York University. My PhD is in history from the Ohio State University.

My book project is entitled, “Mexican Film Censorship and the Creation of Regime Legitimacy, 1913-1945.” In my writing, I argue that Mexican government officials used cinema censorship to disseminate a positive image of Mexico and Mexicans as modern and prosperous, and attempted to create an appearance of stability and control. Utilizing archival sources, newspapers, journals, and film propaganda, I examine how different regimes in Mexican history use film censorship as a tool to legitimize their power through images.

I took a course in Latin American Studies on film in graduate school at New York University. It was here where my interest in Latin American film began. As I continued my research, I wanted to illustrate how film censorship plays a role in disseminating images that help create a national identity.

For my second project, I am interested in race in Latin America through the medium of the freakshow. The purpose of this project is to examine, through the freakshow, how the connection to non-whiteness with the animalistic and barbaric constructs race along the borderlands of the United States and Mexico.  

My favorite book The Hour of Eugenics falls more under medical history. But it was a book that inspired me to do my own undergraduate thesis on women and eugenics in the United States and Latin America.

Marie Curie who did research on radioactivity. She defined the gender stereotypes of her time to complete critical research.

I am a pet-mom so I love to hang out with my cats and dogs. I also enjoy RuPaul’s Drag Race and Bob’s Burgers as well as playing any type of boardgames!