Joseph M. Pierce

Roles and Affiliations

Joseph M. Pierce is an Associate Professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature at Stony Brook University and Inaugural Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. He holds dual affiliations with the university’s Latin American and Indigenous Studies programs.

Education and Background

While specific academic credentials aren’t detailed here, his extensive scholarly output and roles imply advanced degrees in Hispanic Studies, Queer Theory, and Indigenous Studies. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, his work integrates Indigenous epistemologies with queer critiques.

Research Interests

Pierce’s work focuses on intersections of gender, sexuality, kinship, and race in Latin America, with a particular focus on 19th-century literature and decolonial thought. Key themes include queer kinship, Indigenous sovereignty, and critiques of settler-colonialism. His methodologies blend literary analysis with ethnographic and activist frameworks.

Teaching

• Graduate courses include Queer Fin de Siglo, Bad Romance: Gender and Kinship in Latin America, and Cosmic Blood: Scientific Discourses.
• Undergraduate courses cover Latin American masculinities, queer feminisms, and technologies of self in Latin America.

Publications

Pierce authored Argentine Intimacies (2019) and co-edited Políticas del amor (2018). His recent work includes Speculative Relations (2025) and essays on trans resistance, Indigenous translation politics, and queer-monstrosity. His scholarship appears in GLQ, Critical Ethnic Studies, and Latin American Research Review.

Collaborations

Co-curator of the Knowledge of Wounds performance series with S.J. Norman (Wiradjuri). Collaborates with Indigenous scholars and activists on decolonial projects.

Labs/Teams

Leads Stony Brook’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, fostering interdisciplinary research on Indigenous sovereignty, queer kinship, and decolonial praxis.