Micaela J. Díaz-Sánchez

Dr. Micaela J. Díaz-Sánchez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on performance studies, visual culture, and diaspora studies with an emphasis on Afro-Latina/o and Chicana/Latina feminist perspectives. She holds a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford University.

Her work interrogates intersections of race, gender, and diaspora through performance practices such as son jarocho, bomba, and contemporary theater. Key research areas include decolonial topographies of Latina cultural production, African spiritualities in borderlands literature, and embodied resistance in transnational contexts. She has published in journals like Chicana/Latina Studies and QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, and is currently completing a book manuscript on Chicana and Mexicana feminist performance.

Dr. Díaz-Sánchez's scholarship bridges academic and artistic communities, emphasizing ethnomusicology and dramaturgy. Her research has explored topics ranging from queer spatial practices in Los Angeles to the role of music in Afro-Mexican resistance movements. She maintains active engagement with performance traditions across the Americas, particularly in Mexico and the Caribbean.