Mario Alberto Gomez Zamora

Bio

Mario A. Gómez Zamora is a scholar of queerness, gender and sexuality, migration, memory, Latinx and Latin American studies, dance and performance studies, 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 P’urhépecha and mestizo scholar (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. One of these projects culminated in the publication of the multilingual book Entre el Recuerdo y la Memoria: Historias de Patamban (translated into P’urhépecha and English), which Mario edited.

As a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities and in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Mario is working 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 is receiving mentorship to complete his project from Dr. Jennifer DeVere Brody in TAPS. In the summer of 2025, Mario was a Chancellor's postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA, where he received mentorship to advance his project from Dr. Jason De León. At Stanford University, Mario is teaching Intro to Dance Studies (winter) and his course Queer Indigenous Performances in the Americas (spring). His scholarship and poetry have been published by Wicazo Sa Review, Pasados, the Historical Institute of the University Michoacana Press, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Genealogy, and Los Angeles Review of Books. His last article, “Breaking Queer Silences, Building Queer Archives, and Claiming Queer Indigenous P’urhépecha Methodologies,” won the Most Thought-Provoking article in Native American and Indigenous Studies in 2025.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Theater and Performance Studies

Administrative Appointments

• First-Generation Graduate Committee Chair at the First-Generation Graduate Initiative, University of California, Santa Cruz (2023 - 2025)

Honors & Awards

• Most Thought-Provoking Article, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) (2025)
• Lionel Cantú Memorial Award, University of California, Santa Cruz (2024)
• Postdoctoral Recruitment Initiative in Science and Medicine (PRISM), Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA), Stanford University (2024)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Council Member, Latin American Studies Association section on Ethnicity, Race and Indigenous Peoples (ERIP) (2025 - Present)

Professional Education

• BA, Normal Superior Juana de Asbaje, Education and History (Secondary Teacher in History) (2012)
• Masters in Teaching History, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Education and History (2016)
• MA, University of California, Santa Cruz, Latin American and Latino Studies (2022)
• PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Anthropology (2025)