Maurice Rafael Magana

Maurice Rafael Magaña is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chicana/o/x Studies at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on urban anthropology, social movements, migration, and border studies, with a particular emphasis on youth resistance, hip-hop culture, and transborder communities. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Mexico, the U.S., Honduras, South Africa, and Costa Rica, collaborating with activists and labor movements.

Magaña holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oregon. Prior to UC Davis, he held positions at UCLA and the University of Arizona, and was a Fellow at UC San Diego's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. His award-winning book Cartographies of Youth Resistance examines hip-hop and punk activism in Mexico, winning the 2021 Anthony Leeds Prize.

His research explores how marginalized communities reimagine urban spaces and challenge racialized geographies through art, social media, and collective action. Recent work includes studies on transborder archives, Indigenous futures, and Black-Brown solidarity movements in Los Angeles. Magaña’s work appears in American Anthropologist, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Anthropology.

He has received grants from Mellon Foundation, Wenner-Gren, Ford Foundation, and others. His community-engaged research includes collaborations with labor unions and transnational social justice initiatives.