Vanessa Fonseca-Chávez

Dr. Fonseca-Chávez holds an MA in Hispanic Southwest Studies from the University of New Mexico and a PhD in Spanish Cultural Studies from Arizona State University. She joined the faculty at ASU in 2016 and teaches courses in Chicana/o and Indigenous literature and culture. She is a core faculty member in the MA in Narrative Studies Program, which is the first program of its kind in the U.S. In 2021, Dr. Fonseca-Chávez was appointed as Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at ASU. In this role, she oversees diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the college and serves as a DEI Designee for the Office of Inclusive Excellence. Dr. Fonseca-Chávez is the Membership Coordinator for Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, an organization for self identified Chicanas/Latinas/Indigenous/Native American and Non-Gender Conforming individuals and is the co-director of the Following the Manito Trail project with Levi Romero.

Current Work:

Dr. Fonseca-Chávez's received a Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Seed Grant in 2021 to work with communities in eastern Arizona on a storytelling project. She is conducting oral histories with Hispanic residents whose families migrated from New Mexico to eastern Arizona to explore how they understand and communicate their sense of place. This research will lead to a book project centering the stories and histories of these communities. This work is part of a larger objective to explore Hispanic New Mexican diasporas through the Following the Manito Trail project (https://www.manitotrail.com). Dr. Fonseca-Chávez and the Following the Manito Trail team are working on their second museum exhibit, which will showcase New Mexican Hispanic families from Taos County and their diasporic experiences. The exhibit runs from March - July 2022 at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico.

Research Area(s):

• place; Chicana/o; querencia; belonging; migration