Vanessa Moreno Wilcox, PhD

Vanessa Moreno Wilcox is a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the daughter of Mexican migrants and was raised in the San Joaquín Valley (Yokuts lands) and San Francisco Bay Area (Ohlone lands) of Northern California. Vanessa is of P'urhépecha heritage on her paternal side, with her father originating from Aguililla, Michoacán, and of Tepehuán/Acaxee heritage on her maternal side, with her mother originating from the El Comedero region of Sinaloa. Her academic research explores Indigenous migration and diaspora, intergenerational displacement, de-Indianization and retribalization, collective memory, historical trauma, transnationalism, placemaking, traditional food knowledge, and Mexican foodways. Her work practices decolonial methodologies by emphasizing Indigenous survivance, relationality, and reciprocity, while utilizing community-based research, autoethnography, archival research, genealogical research, and digital humanities.