Education
B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - History

Bio
As a Chicana historian, feminist theorist and creative writer, I have attempted to traverse various scholarly and creative interests since earning my PhD in History at UCLA. My past research has included archival research in Yucatan, Mexico where I combed the archives for documents on the social and cultural history of the women who held the feminist congresses in Merida in 1916. I completed my dissertation on this topic and published a few of the chapters at the same time that I was also writing theoretical essays that scrutinized race within feminist theories. I published an essay, titled "Sexuality and Discourse: Notes from a Chicana Survivor," in 1991. The essay has since been reprinted in three anthologies on feminist theory.

In 1996, I published my first novel, Gulf Dreams. The novel is set in contemporary, rural Texas and it probes how racism, gender oppression and homophobia affect a Mexican American community. Since it is one of the first Chicana lesbian novels to be published, the novel is assigned throughout the nation in Gay and Lesbian Literature classes as well as in Chicano/a literature classes. Literary critics have also written about Gulf Dreams and its contribution to both Chicano/a literature and queer literature.

In 1999, I published a historical, theoretical book titled, The Decolonial Imaginary: Writing Chicanas into History with Indiana University Press. I consider the text one of my key contributions to the fields of history and theory. Using a Foucauldian model, I interrogated Chicano historiography to ask, how have the Chicanas been written into history? And, how have they been erased or relegated to silence in history? The book continues to be read and used in graduate and undergraduate classes in diverse fields including history, literature and cultural studies.

Currently I am working on three projects. For the last six years I have been writing a historical novel titled, Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory. The three hundred and twenty page novel has gone through a number of drafts and I hope to publish the final version in the next year. The manuscript has benefited tremendously from creative writing workshops both at the University of Iowa and Columbia University in New York City. I am also conceptualizing a theoretical book that will synthesize the works of queer theorists who include race within their paradigms. The book is tentatively titled, Decolonial Queer Theory and New York University Press has expressed interest in its publication. The third project is a playful novel titled, Las Shameless Sisters and clearly falls within the rubric of "chica lit". Two of the chapters from the novel-in-progress will be published this year in journals.

In the next few years I'll continue to teach classes on race and its impact on queer and feminist theory as well as write essays contributing to those fields. I also intend to continue writing creatively and teaching creative writing classes for our Department of Ethnic Studies.

Office
Ketchum 30A

Contact
E: emma.perez@colorado.edu