Michelle Vasquez Ruiz

Michelle Vasquez Ruiz is a UC President and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned her PhD in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California, following an M.A. in History from California State University, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Political Science and Chicano/a Latino/a Studies from the University of California, Irvine.

Her research program critically examines how restrictive immigration laws and crimmigration (the merger of criminal law and immigration enforcement) disrupt cultural practices of diasporic Indigenous communities, particularly Oaxacan Zapotec communities across the US-Mexico border. Drawing from mobility studies, media studies, and critical Indigenous studies, her work analyzes how digital platforms like YouTube travel videos function as 'mobile postcards' that help undocumented Indigenous communities maintain connections to homelands despite border restrictions.

Her publications reveal consistent engagement with themes of settler colonial structures, transborder Indigenous mobilities, and digital community archiving. Her most recent work examines spatial and discursive violence in the US Southwest, while her earlier scholarship explores how neoliberal policies and cyberspace impact Latin American Indigenous communities. Her research demonstrates how Indigenous communities creatively navigate and resist structures that attempt to dictate their mobility.

• President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship

As Project Director for the Mobile Indigenous Community Archive, Vasquez Ruiz leads the development of a digital repository documenting Indigenous social movements. Her collaborative work with the Boyle Heights Museum Team demonstrates her commitment to community-engaged scholarship and public history methodologies. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided materials, her prestigious fellowships indicate significant recognition of her research potential in the field of Indigenous and Ethnic Studies.