Yolanda Broyles-GonzálezView profile
Professor
Dr. Yolanda Broyles-González serves as a University Distinguished Professor in Social Transformation Studies at Kansas State University, having previously held professorships in Mexican-American Studies at the University of Arizona and dual appointments in Chicano Studies and German Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her academic journey includes undergraduate studies at the University of Arizona (Phi Beta Kappa), doctoral work at Stanford University (where she became among the first women of color to earn a doctorate), and research at four German institutions funded by the German Academic Exchange Service for five years. Her scholarship centers on indigenous borderlands narratives , examining intersections of gender, oral tradition, and performance genres within Native American communities. As a Yaqui Barrio Libre community elder native to the Arizona/Sonora desert, her work authentically documents cultural resilience along the U.S.-Mexico border. Major recognitions include: Lifetime Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship Ford Foundation research grant Fulbright Foundation international award German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) research funding Her acclaimed publications Lydia Mendoza’s Life in Music/La Historia de Lydia Mendoza and Earth Wisdom: A California Chumash Woman establish foundational frameworks for borderlands ethnomusicology and indigenous knowledge systems, reflecting decades of advocacy for Chicana/o studies as an academic discipline.








