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Veronica SandovalVeronica Sandoval, Lady Mariposa

Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies

M.F.A. in Creative Writing with Graduate Certificate in Mexican American Studies, University of Texas Pan American
B.A. in English, Magna Cum Laude, University of Texas Pan American

Research Interests

Sandoval’s research interest includes La Chola, the Chola Vida/OG Chola Pinup Network, the Ovarian Psycos, Adelitas, Pachucas, homegirl aesthetics, chola agency, and an emphasis on Chicana feminist epistemology that centers community knowledges and Chicana legacies of resistance. Her frameworks include: Chicana feminism, Global Feminism, Chicana Materialism, Motherworks, Affect Theory, and Queer of Color Critique. The research she has conducted and written covers a wide array of subjects and political practices such as immigration, the prison industrial complex, cholas, chola agency, Adelitas, pachucas, lowriders, lowrider arte, and cultural productions such as photography, art, barrio art Ts, and activist campaigns via social media.

A Scholar and a Poet

She is a spoken word artist who writes under the name Lady Mariposa, an old school chola, and street poet who was performing poetry in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, even before she ever thought she would enter academia. Poetry, and poetry performance, is important; it has the power to create organic engagement in communities that are often left outside of traditional academic discourse. Her poetry has been a catalyst to my scholarship interest and has been the way that she has met the most amazing scholars, writers, artists, community members, and students. Without poetry, who she is as an academic would look, feel, and sound completely different. This is why she has continued to conduct writing workshops, present in public performances, private class performances, and continue to publish with her writing appearing in several anthologies throughout the 17 years in which she has been writing and performing.

Otras Cosas

  • Sandoval has an obsession with films pertaining to the apocalypse: zombies, alien invasion, virus outbreaks, and any other natural or supernatural disaster such as giant spiders, zombie beavers, killer clowns from outer space, and so on.
  • She adores gnomes and have them in her china hutch, her front yard, her graduate office, her home office, her bedrooms, and she carries a travel gnome in her purse known as El Homie Gnomie.
  • When she is not teaching or writing, she is the ruca of a firme chubby vato, and cat mommy to their gato named Boots.

Academic Publications

2019
  • “Playing Chola: The Discourse of Subjects and Subject-Selves,” Latina Outsiders: Remaking Latina Identity, Routledge, New York, New York.
 2018   
  • “Immigration, Surveillance, and Unaccompanied Minors in the Rio Grande Valley: Nepantla Praxis in the Works of Borderland Artist Celeste De Luna.” El Mundo Zurdo 6, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, California.
2016
  • “Book Review: The Un/Making of Latina/o Citizenship Culture, Politics, and Aesthetics,” APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
2015
  • “Book Review: Unwoven: Poems by Erika Garza-Johnson,” La Bloga.

Poetry Publications

2019   
  • “My Reality is My Poetry,” Routledge Handbook of Chicana/o Studies, Routledge International Handbooks, New York, New York. Appearing in “The Landscapes and Languaging of Chicana Feminisms,” by Dr. Aída Hurtado
 2018   
  • There are Cholas,” Blood Orange Review, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
2016
  • “Dear Gloria, Aqui in the Palouse,” in IMANIMAN: Poets Reflect on Transformative & Transgressive Borders Through Gloria Anzaldúa’s Work, Aunt Lute Press, San Francisco, CA.
  • “Dear Santa,” in El Mundo Zurdo 5, Aunt Lute Press, San Francisco, CA.
  • “Valley Haikus,” in Beat Texas Anthology, Lamar University Press, Beaumont, TX.
2014
  • “Ama, A Poetic Reflection,” “Choir,” “Once,” “Mexico you are my motherland,” and “She Was: The Impotent Sun Rose,” in 2014 Savant Poetry Anthology, Honolulu, HI.
  • “How to be La Llorona for the City of Sullivan that has no Sidewalks,” in NewBorder: Contemporary Voices from the Texas/Mexico Border, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX.
2013
  • “Soy,” in Juventud! Growing Up on the Border: Stories and Poems, VAO Publishing, McAllen, TX.

Presentations

2018
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “Chola Work: Homegirl Scholarship, Agency and Activism in Academia and Beyond,” for Uniting Communities: You are the Ripple that Causes the Movement. Children of Aztlan Sharing Higher Education Conference (CASHE).  Washington State High School Student Recruitment & Campus Preview Event. Panel Moderator, Organizer and Presenter
  • Elson Floyd Cultural Arts Center, Pullman, WA
    • “To Queer the Chola: Radical Queer Politics en un Mundo Zurdo” For Inqueery: Queer (Trans)Formations Symposium. Co-organized by Washington State University’s GIESORC, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, and the Office of Equity and Diversity. Paper Presentation.
  • Hilton Double Tree, Minneapolis, Minnesota
    • “Chola Intergenerationality: Lessons for las Ovas that Remain” For Panel “Intimacy as a Project for Survival: Migrant Precarity, Femme Gestures, and Queer Intergenerational Bonds.” For the NACCS XLV: The Queer Turn, National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Paper Presentation.
    • “Chola’s Chismosa: Countersites of Resistance Through Chola Pinup’s La Chismosa: A Publication for Activist Cholas,” for Panel “Queer Pedagogy and Poetics Sin Fronteras: Chicanx Testimonios y Performance in the Classroom, la Calle, y la Comunidad.” For the NACCS XLV: The Queer Turn, National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Paper Presentation.
2017
  • Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA
    • “Creating Chola Bruja Space: Decolonizing Conferences through Chola Pinup’s Chola Bruja Conference: for Panel “Listening as we Walk, Listening as we Write,” for the 2017 Pacific Northwest Foco of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Paper Presentation.
  • Seattle Central College, Seattle, WA
    • “Real Gs Get Degrees: How Homegirl Culture is the New Comadrehood for sCHOLArs,” for the 24th Annual MEChA National Conference, “Existence is Resistance: Our Intersecting Movements.”
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “Musings from a Chola Claiming an Education,” presentation for Week of Welcome for incoming CAMP (College Assistant Migrant Program) students.
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “Contando Cuentos de Nuestra Gente: Resistance and Survival as Legacy,” Under the Skin: An Introspective Look at the Self, Pacific Northwest Center for Mestizo and Indigenous Research and Engagement and College of Education. Epistemology and poetry workshop.
2016
  • University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
    • “Immigration, Surveillance, and Unaccompanied Minors: Nepantla Praxis in the Works of Borderland Artist Celeste De Luna,” for panel “Living Nepantla Theory: The Incredible Art of Immigrant Justice,” El Mundo Zurdo 2016 Conference: Nepantla: Theories and Practices.
  • University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
    • “Aqui in the Palouse: A Published Poem,” for panel “Imaniman: Poets Reflect on Transformative Borders through Anzaldua’s Work,” El Mundo Zurdo 2016 Conference: Nepantla: Theories and Practices.
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “Claiming, Loving, and Surviving Through Queer Aztlan: An Artivist Workshop,” for “Undocuqueer Week: Seeing the Invisible Conference,” NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Region V Undocumented and Queer in Higher Education Drive-in Conference. Panel presentation and poetry workshop.
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “La Bienvenida Visitation Program: Resource and Community Fair,” College Assistance Migrant Program. Welcome and poetry performance for parents and incoming students.
2015   
  • University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
    • “Repping Raza: Revising the Foundational Myth of Adelia, Pachuca, and Chola.” For panel “‘The Girls Your Mother Warned You About’: Re-signifying Political Femininity through Chola Politics,” El Mundo Zurdo 2015: Memoria y Conocimiento, Interdisciplinary Anzalduan Studies—Archive, Legacy, and Thought. Panel and paper presentation.
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “CAMP End of the Year Banquet,” College Assistance Migrant Program. Keynote speaker.
2014
  • Washington State University, Pullman, WA
    • “Como La Flor,” keynote address for the MEChA Annual Mom’s Weekend Dinner, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan at WSU.
2013
  • Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
    • “Chicanas Chingonas: Reframing Discourses of Resistance,” National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, Pacific Northwest Regional Conference, “Our Future, Our Roots: Creating the Next Century in a Time of Transformation.” Panel with performance.

Contact Veronica Sandoval

veronica.sandoval2@wsu.edu
509-335-7268
Thompson Hall 9

Courses Taught

AMER St 216 Introduction to American Cultural Studies: Outlaws and Gangsters
CES 101 Introduction to Comparative Ethnic Studies
CES 151 Introduction to Chicana/o and Latino/a Studies
Women_St 101 Introduction to Women’s Studies
Women_St 337 Women in Popular Culture