Bio

Moya is the author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism (Stanford UP 2016) and Learning From Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural Struggles (UC Press 2002). She has co-edited three collections of original essays including Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century (W.W. Norton, Inc. 2010), Identity Politics Reconsidered (Palgrave 2006) and Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism (UC Press 2000). 

Her teaching and research focus on twentieth-century and early twenty-first century literary studies, feminist theory, critical theory, narrative theory, American cultural studies, interdisciplinary approaches to race and ethnicity, and Chicano/a and U.S. Latina/o studies.

At Stanford, Moya has served as the Director of the Program of Modern Thought and Literature, Vice Chair of the Department of English, and the Director of the Undergraduate Program of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. She has also been the faculty coordinator of several faculty-graduate student research networks sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center, the Research Institute for the Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and Modern Thought and Literature. They include The Interdisciplinary Working Group in Critical Theory (2015-2016, 2012-2014), Feminist Theory (2007-08, 2002-03), Americanity / Coloniality / Modernity (2006-07), and How Do Identities Matter? (2003-06).

She was also a founding organizer and coordinating team member of The Future of Minority Studies research project (FMS), an inter-institutional, interdisciplinary, and multigenerational research project facilitating focused and productive discussions about the democratizing role of minority identity and participation in a multicultural society.

Moya is a recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, a Ford Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, the Outstanding Chicana/o Faculty Member award. She has been a Brown Faculty Fellow, a Clayman Institute Fellow, and is currently a CCSRE Faculty Research Fellow. 

Academic Appointments

  • Professor, English
  • Professor (By courtesy), Iberian and Latin American Cultures

Administrative Appointments

  • Director, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University (2021 - Present)
  • Director, Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University (2016 - 2019)
  • Director of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University (2011 - 2015)

Honors & Awards

  • Faculty Fellow, Center for Advanced Study of Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) (2019-2020)
  • Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Stanford University
  • Outstanding Chicana/o Faculty Member Award, Stanford University
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation
  • Brown Faculty Fellowship, The Brown Institute
  • Fellowship, Clayman Institute

Program Affiliations

  • American Studies
  • Center for Latin American Studies
  • Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., Cornell University (1998)
  • M.A., Cornell University (1995)
  • B.A., University of Houston (1991)

Contact

  • Academic
    pmoya@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: English Position: Professor

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2087

2021-22 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Ask a Feminist: Eesha Pandit and Paula Moya Discuss Activism and the Academy with Carla Kaplan and Suzanna Walters SIGNS Pandit, E., Moya, P., Kaplan, C., Walters, S. 2021; 47 (1): 235-245

    View details for DOI 10.1086/715648

    View details for Web of Science ID 000696913000017

  • Designing Ambient Narrative-Based Interfaces to Reflect and Motivate Physical Activity. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference Murnane, E. L., Jiang, X. n., Kong, A. n., Park, M. n., Shi, W. n., Soohoo, C. n., Vink, L. n., Xia, I. n., Xin, Y. n., Yang-Sammataro, J. n., Young, G. n., Zhi, J. n., Moya, P. n., Landay, J. A. 2020; 2020

    Abstract

    Numerous technologies now exist for promoting more active lifestyles. However, while quantitative data representations (e.g., charts, graphs, and statistical reports) typify most health tools, growing evidence suggests such feedback can not only fail to motivate behavior but may also harm self-integrity and fuel negative mindsets about exercise. Our research seeks to devise alternative, more qualitative schemes for encoding personal information. In particular, this paper explores the design of data-driven narratives, given the intuitive and persuasive power of stories. We present WhoIsZuki, a smartphone application that visualizes physical activities and goals as components of a multi-chapter quest, where the main character's progress is tied to the user's. We report on our design process involving online surveys, in-lab studies, and in-the-wild deployments, aimed at refining the interface and the narrative and gaining a deep understanding of people's experiences with this type of feedback. From these insights, we contribute recommendations to guide future development of narrative-based applications for motivating healthy behavior.

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3313831.3376478

    View details for PubMedID 33880463

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8055101

  • "Against the Sorrowful and Infinite Solitude" Environmental Consciousness and Streetwalker Theorizing in Helena Maria Viramontes's Their Dogs Came with Them LATINX ENVIRONMENTALISMS: PLACE, JUSTICE, AND THE DECOLONIAL Moya, P. L., Wald, S. D., Vazquez, D. J., Ybarra, P. S., Ray, S. J. 2019: 250–66

    View details for Web of Science ID 000521354700015

  • "We Carry Our Environments within Ourselves" An Interview with Helena Maria Viramontes LATINX ENVIRONMENTALISMS: PLACE, JUSTICE, AND THE DECOLONIAL Vazquez, D. J., Wald, S. D., Moya, P. L., Wald, S. D., Vazquez, D. J., Ybarra, P. S., Ray, S. J. 2019: 164–76

    View details for Web of Science ID 000521354700010

  • The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism Moya, P. M. Stanford University Press. 2016
  • Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century edited by Markus, H. R., Moya, P. M. W.W. Norton, Inc.. 2010
  • POSTETHNIC AMERICA? A MULTICULTURAL TRAINING CAMP FOR AMERICANISTS AND FUTURE EFL TEACHERS IDENTITY IN EDUCATION Buchenau, B., Hecke, C., Moya, P. L., Shelton, J., SanchezCasal, S., Macdonald, A. A. 2009: 225–50

    View details for Web of Science ID 000283741100011

  • WHAT'S IDENTITY GOT TO DO WITH IT? MOBILIZING IDENTITIES IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM IDENTITY IN EDUCATION Moya, P. L., SanchezCasal, S., Macdonald, A. A. 2009: 45–64

    View details for Web of Science ID 000283741100003

  • Identity Politics Reconsidered edited by Mohanty, S. P., Alcoff, L. M., Hames-García, M., Moya, P. M. Palgrave. 2006
  • WHAT'S IDENTITY GOT TO DO WITH IT? MOBILIZING IDENTITIES IN THE MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM IDENTITY POLITICS RECONSIDERED Moya, P. L., Alcoff, L. M., HamesGarcia, M., Mohanty, S. P., Moya, P. M. 2006: 96–117

    View details for Web of Science ID 000284041800007

  • "This is not your country!": Nation and belonging in Latina/o literature AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY Moya, P. M. 2005; 17 (1): 183-195

    View details for DOI 10.1093/alh/aji011

    View details for Web of Science ID 000226290700011

  • Learning From Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural Struggles Moya, P. M. University of California Press. 2002
  • Chicana feminism and postmodernist theory SIGNS Moya, P. M. 2001; 26 (2): 441-483

    View details for Web of Science ID 000166908800004

  • Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism edited by Moya, P. M., Hames-García, M. R. University of California Press. 2000