Mario A. Gómez Zamora
Mario A. Gómez Zamora
Chancellor's Postdoctoral Researcher
Office: A340 @ The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
Biography
Mario A. Gómez Zamora is a scholar of queerness, gender and sexuality, migration, memory, Latinx studies, dance studies, Indigenous performances, and P’urhépecha studies. He earned his PhD and M.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies with emphasis in Anthropology at UCSC, a master’s in teaching history at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, and a B.A. in Secondary Education with a concentration in History at Normal Superior Juana de Asbaje in Michoacán. Mario is a first-generation P’urhépecha and mestizo scholar and poet (the son of a mestiza mother and a P’urhépecha father) originally from Tangancícuaro, Michoacán, where Mario was raised by his grandparents, aunties, and sister. For over a decade, Mario has collaborated with P’urhépecha youth and elders in the recollection of oral histories in his community of origin, which culminated in the publication of the multilingual book Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Historias de Patamban. As a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Mario will work on his book project Queer P’urhépecha Histories and Performances Beyond Borders, where he explores the cultural tensions that queer Indigenous P’urhépechas face when participating in their communities’ traditions and ceremonies in both sites of the border. Mario will receive mentorship to complete his project from Dr. Jason De León in the Department of Anthropology, who will help Mario to analyze systemic issues related to the murder and migration of queer P’urhépechas. This is a project of resistance, love, and hope.
Research Interests
Critical Indigenous Studies, Queer Indigenous Theory, Gender and Sexualities, Migrations Studies, Danza and Indigenous Performances, Local Memory, Queer Archives, Indigenous Feminisms, Settler Colonialism, Indigenous P’urhépecha Queerness, P’urhépecha Culture and Migration, P’urhépecha Studies, Indigenous Practices of Care, Decolonial and Critical Pedagogies.
Publications
Books
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. (Ed.). 2024. Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Historias de Patamban. Segunda Edición. México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo. ISBN: 978-607-542-301-2. [Translated into P’urhépecha by Ismael García Marcelino and English by Bradley Levinson]
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. (Ed.). 2017. Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Historias de Patamban. Primera Edición. México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. ISBN: 978-607-8116-85-0
Book Chapters
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. 2021. “Un Ejercicio Pedagógico para Descolonizar la Enseñanza de la Historia,” pp. 89-117. In TREJO, Dení, and DOSIL, Francisco (Eds.), La escuela más allá de los pupitres: Experiencias de educación Histórica en Michoacán, México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. ISBN: 978-607-542-187-2.
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. 2019. “Una Propuesta Didáctica Alternativa para la Enseñanza de la Historia: Historias de Patamban,” pp. 129-138. In RODRÍGUEZ, María, and GUERRERO, Ma., (Comp.), Aportaciones a la Didáctica de la Historia, México: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. ISBN: 978-607-27-1190-7
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. 2017. “Del Aula a la Comunidad: Vamos pa’ fuera,” pp. 63-90. In ZAVALA, Ana, (Ed.), De la práctica a la escritura, trece ejercicios en torno a la práctica de la investigación y la de la enseñanza, México: Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana Uruguay and Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. ISBN: 978-607-542-012-7
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. 2017. “Anécdotas de un Arriero: Rutas, Mercancías y Dinámica Familiar,” pp. 25-32. En Relatos de mi pueblo, México, H. Ayuntamiento de Tangancícuaro 2015-2018 and Secretaría de Cultura del estado de Michoacán.
Peer-Review Journals
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario. 2024. “Breaking Queer Silences, Building Queer Archives, and Claiming Queer Indigenous P’urhépecha Methodologies.” In RAMIREZ, Renya and ORONA, Brittani R., (Eds.), Special issue on Native/Indigenous Family Studies in the Americas. Genealogy Journal 8, no. 4: 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040123
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. Forthcoming. “Those who are like that. Performing Queer Belonging Through P’urhépecha Indigenous Practices of El Costumbre.” Wicazo Sa Review, Volume 40, Number 1 & 2.
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. Forthcoming. “An Indigenous P’urhépecha Woman Record: Recordando el Pasado de Mamá Lupe.” Pasados: Recovering Histories, Imagining Latinidad.
Co-authors: SPEARS-RICO, Gabriela, ROMERO, Fabian, GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A, and AMEZCUA AGUILAR, Vicky. “Reclaiming the Queer P’urhépecha Archive: Anti-Gay Colonial Violence, Embodied Indigenous Witnessing and Living Two-Spirit Testimonios.” Feminist Anthropology. [In Review]
GÓMEZ ZAMORA, Mario A. 2018. “Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Un Ejercicio Didáctico de la Historia en Patamban, en la Sierra P´urhépecha, Michoacán.” pp. 102-108. Nota crítica en Revista Diarios del Terruño. Reflexiones sobre Migración y Movilidad, México, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa. ISNN: 2448-6876
Awards & Grants
Most Thought-Provoking Article in Native American and Indigenous Studies 2024. Article “Breaking Queer Silences, Building Queer Archives, and Claiming Queer Indigenous P’urhépecha Methodologies.” Award granted by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) at the annual business meeting of the organization in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. June 2025.
Lionel Cantú Memorial Award. Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Sociology Department. University of California, Santa Cruz. June 2024.
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas. Research Travel Grant. December 2023.
Latin American and Latino Studies Future Faculty Program and UC Hispanic-Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative. Summer Publishing Institute. April 2023.
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Honorific Mention. March 2023.
Crossing Latinidades Mellon Professionalization Fellowship Program. 2022 – 2023.
Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas. Research Travel Grant. December 2022.
STARS Re-entry Scholarship. Women’s Club at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Spring 2022.
University of California, Santa Cruz and Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship. Winter 2022.
Tinker Foundation. Field Research Grant. Winter 2020.
National Fellowship by the Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencia y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT) to pursue the “Maestría en Enseñanza de la Historia”, offered by the “Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo”. September 2014-August 2016.
CONAHCYT Visiting Scholar Fellowship under the direction of Bradley Levinson. In the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Indiana University of Bloomington, United States. October 1 – October 31, 2015.
First place in the Essay Competition “The Mexican Independence.” Centro Escolar Juana de Asbaje, Zamora, Michoacán. 2009-2010.
Conference Presentations
Public talk, “Disidencias sexuales indígenas P’urhépecha, cuerpxs y performatividades en espacios transnacionales.” Segunda Sesión Seminario de diversidad sexual e interculturalidad. Programa Universitario de Estudios de la Diversidad Cultural y la Interculturalidad. Universidad Autónoma de México. March 2025. [virtual event] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmIDSnG1PHw
Public talk, “Claiming Queer Indigenous P’urhépecha Histories and Methodologies: Notes from mi tierra Michoacán.” Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures Department. Texas Tech University. January 31, 2025.
“Queerness and Maringuía Danzantes in P’urhépecha Communities in Michoacán.” In panel Dancing with Life: Living Culture and Resistance among Indigenous Communities in Michoacán. Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, College of Liberal Arts. University of Minnesota. October 12, 2023.
“Redefining Indigeneity, Colonial Violence, and Strategies of Resistance among Queer P’urhépecha People in Michoacán and the United States.” Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. October 13, 2022.
“Ethnography, Identities, and Recollection of Indigenous Memories from a Decolonial Perspective.” Facultad de Humanidades, Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Colombia. March 16, 2022.
“Poetry, Weaving my Ancestras Rebozos.” In Parákata Journeys Home: Queer P’urhépecha Artists and Scholars. Simon Fraser University, Cananda. September 10, 2021.
“Between the School and the Community: A Didactic Proposal for Teaching Local History.” In Workshop Around the Teaching of History: Between Quarries. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. Morelia, Michoacán. April 05, 2017.
“Thinking Historically through Local History.” In the Presentation of Research Projects. Masters in Middle School Education. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Zamora, Michoacán. September 03, 2016.
Degrees
PhD in Latin American and Latino Studies and Anthropology
M.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies
Masters in Teaching History
B.A. in Secondary Education and History
