Current Graduate Students
bcueva@ucla.edu
Ph.D. Candidate, Women's Studies, UCLA
BA’s Political Science (Theory) and Chicana/o Studies (Chicana Feminisms), UCLA
MA, Urban Planning (Social Policy and
Research), UCLA
I consider myself very fortunate to be able to study what I love and
even more appreciative to embark on this educational path. This degree
and all its struggles, triumphs, and educational awakenings are
dedicated to my Mother. It’s in her memory that I continue to gain inner
strength in challenging social injustices, institutional racism, and
shattering the silences associated with: colonization, imperialism, and
the genocide of indigenous peoples.
Areas of Interest: My areas of specialization include: 1) Chicana
Feminisms (methods/theory production); 2) American Indian Feminisms; 3)
non-conventional feminist methodological approaches in feminist
analysis; and 4) feminist theory predominantly through: indigenous,
third world, colonial, and post-colonial frameworks. Additional areas of
interest also include transnational feminist organizing in areas central
to: globalization, human rights, and indigenous advocacy. More
specifically, in regions central to: Mexico (Chiapas), America Latina
(Peru, Columbia), and the Southwest.
My current research evaluates leading transfeminista literature and
global organizations of Mexico and America Latina, thus evaluates the
negative effects that globalization has on indigenous and poor women. I
am specifically interested in researching the political ramifications of
globalization and how these forces are directly linked to colonial and
imperialist forms of domination through: 1) the feminization and
exploitation of a female labor force, as witnessed in the region of
Mexico (maquiladoras); 2) the migration of women’s labor and their
bodies (abductions/mutilations/murder); 3) environmental degradation of
indigenous peoples; 4) the militarization of the state; 5) religious
persecution; and 6) continued human rights violations in the name of
“progress” or “modernity.”