Bio

Xavi Luis Burgos is a Ph.D. student at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, researching the pedagogical, political, and prophetic histories and strategies of Caribbean communities, with a focus on Afro-diaspora religious traditions.

A longtime educator, writer, organizer, artist, and curator, Xavi’s work includes developing and directing educational programming utilizing public art, film, poetry, photography, and popular education on radical histories, community organizing, LGBTQAI cultures, Caribbean religions, and sexual health. He co-founded the ¡Humboldt Park NO SE VENDE! campaign, which worked to assemble resources and agitate consciousness of gentrification in Chicago. He served on the board of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation, one of Chicago’s largest affordable housing developers. He co-developed, curated, and moderated the Afrorriqueñes symposium, exploring Afro-puertorriqueñidad between Puerto Rico and Chicago. He was Editor-in-Chief of Que Ondee Sola, and published essays in Gozamos, La Voz del Paseo Boricua, Claridad, and 80 grados. Xavi is the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of La Respuesta, a publication that cultivated bridges between the diverse communities of the Puerto Rican Diáspora.

At Stanford University, Xavi co-founded and directed the grant-funded Hemispheric Racializations Working Group, organizing seminars with scholars engaging race and racial formations in the social sciences and humanities. Xavi also co-organized the symposium The Queer Caribbean: Inheritances, Embodiments, and Possibilities, curating and moderating the panel Queer Performance Practices in Puerto Rico & Its Diaspora.

Xavi’s scholarly interests include, but are not limited to: embodied knowledges, sacred epistemologies and ontologies, and ancestor veneration; youth movements and popular educational projects; the pedagogies of memory and remembrance; visual and performance art; political theory, the politics of space, cultural transformations, and the logics of race. Methodological interests include: indigenous, queer, black, latinx, and chicanx; critical race theory; historiography and ethnography.

Honors & Awards

  • Grant Awardee & Coordinator, Hemispheric Racializations Working Group, Center for Latin American Studies (2022)
  • Grant Awardee, Tinker Graduate Field Research Grant, Center for Latin American Studies (2022)
  • Fellow, Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship (EDGE) (2021)

Contact

  • Academic
    xburgos@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: Modern Thought and Literature Position: Graduate
    University - Student Department: Graduate School of Education Position: Graduate

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

The pedagogical, political, and prophetic histories and strategies of Caribbean communities and Afro-Diaspora religious traditions; embodied knowledges, sacred epistemologies and ontologies, and ancestor veneration; youth movements and popular educational projects; the pedagogies of memory and remembrance; visual and performance art; political theory, the politics of space, cultural transformations, and racial formations.