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Cecilia M. Rivas
  • Title
    • Associate Professor
  • Division Social Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Latin American & Latino Studies
    • Merrill College
  • Affiliations Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Anthropology Department, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, Feminist Studies Department
  • Phone
    000-000-0000
  • Email
  • Office Location
    • Merrill College Academic Building, Merrill College
  • Office Hours Thurs., 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Zoom, by appointment.)
  • Mail Stop Merrill/Crown Faculty Services
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Faculty Areas of Expertise Latin American and Latino Studies
  • Courses LALS 194H CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE UNITED STATES (SENIOR SEMINAR); LALS 194R VIOLENCIA EN AMERICA (SENIOR SEMINAR); LALS 80J RACE, NATION, WAR; LALS 80X CENTRAL AMERICAN PEOPLES AND CULTURES; LALS 122 MEDIA AND NATIONALISM; LALS 135 EL SALVADOR: EXPRESIONES CULTURALES; LALS 152 CONSUMER CULTURES; LALS 202 LATIN/O AMERICAN SPACES AND MODERNITY (GRADUATE)

Research Interests

Media and communication; transnationalism and migration; race and ethnicity; consumer cultures; modernity; global Latinidades; El Salvador; Central America; Southern Mexico.

Biography, Education and Training

Ph.D. Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego (USA)
M.A. Area Studies (Latin America), ILAS, University of London (UK)

Selected Publications

  • "Beyond Borders and Remittances: Discussing Salvadoran Emigrant Voting Rights," Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development (UAS). Special issue: Salvadoran Migration to the United States. Vol. 39, No. 1-2 (2010): 149-174.
  • Salvadoran Imaginaries: Mediated Identities and Cultures of Consumption. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2014.
  • "'El Salvador Works': The Creation and Negotiation of a National Brand and the Transnational Imaginary," in Borders in Service: Enactments of Nationhood in Transnational Call Centers. Kiran Mirchandani and Winifred R. Poster, Editors. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016.
  • "Julia's Liberation: Modernities and Trajectories of Salvadoran Women in Alberto Masferrer's Una vida en el cine," Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Dossier: Global Latinidades: Toward a Supra-Latinx Studies. Vol. 48, No. 2 (2023): 147-159.

     

Teaching Interests

Professor Rivas teaches in the areas of national identity, nationalism, media, consumer cultures, and modernity. Some of her courses focus specifically on contemporary Central American societies.