Maurice Rafael Magana
- Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies
- Member of the Graduate Faculty
- (520) 621-1037
- Cesar E Chavez Building, Rm. 207C
- Tucson, AZ 85721
- mmagana0512@arizona.edu
Biography
Maurice (Mauricio) Rafael Magaña is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the cultural politics of youth organizing, transnational migration, urban space, and social movements in Mexico and the United States. Specifically, Dr. Magaña’s work examines how youth construct themselves as political actors in relation to multiple communities across time and space. His research aims to provide a transnational perspective on historic marginalization, racialization, youth political culture and the role of art in activism.
Dr. Magaña’s research has been funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Ford Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation. His work has been published in scholarly journals like the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Social Justice, and the Journal of Contemporary Anthropology, as well as in the edited book, Rethinking Latin American Social Movements: Radical Action from Below. Dr. Magaña is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled, Cartographies of Resistance: Mobilizing Hip-hop, Punk and the Production of Counter-Space. Professor Magaña’s classes have included Youth, Culture and Social Change, Latina/o Ethnography, Immigrant Rights, Labor and Higher Education.
Dr. Magaña received his Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Oregon. His dissertation, Youth in Movement: the Cultural Politics of Autonomous Youth Activism in Southern Mexico, was named as one of the "50 Best Dissertations in Cultural Anthropology of 2013" and he received a "Community Award" from MEChA, University of Oregon. Before coming to the University of Arizona, Dr. Magaña was the UCLA Institute of American Cultures Visiting Researcher in Chicano Studies in 2013-14 and before that he was Visiting Scholar at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego in 2012-13. While at UCLA, Dr. Magaña also worked with the UCLA Labor Center and the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies, both from 2014-16.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Sociocultural Anthropology
- University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States
- Youth in Movement: the Cultural Politics of Autonomous Youth Activism in Southern Mexico
- M.A. Sociocultural Anthropology
- University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States
- B.A. Anthropology
- University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
Awards
- Anthony Leeds Book Prize
- Critical Urban Anthropology Association, Fall 2021
- Leadership Fellows Program
- American Anthropological Association, Fall 2020
- Visiting Researcher
- Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social- Pacífico Sur (Social Anthropology Research and Higher Education Institute, Oaxaca, Mexico), Spring 2020
- University of Arizona Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) Fellows Program
- Spring 2019
Interests
Teaching
Immigration, Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Youth Culture, Social Movements, Popular Culture, Urban Ethnography
Research
Youth Organizing, Cultural Politics, Social Movements, Mexico and the United States, Urban Space, Transnationalism, Immigration, Art and Activism, Political Culture
Courses
2024-25 Courses
-
Latinos+Latinas:Emrg Isu
MAS 365 (Fall 2024) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2024)
2023-24 Courses
-
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2024) -
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 475A (Spring 2024) -
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 575A (Spring 2024) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 475A (Spring 2024) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 575A (Spring 2024) -
Education Of Latina/Os
TLS 475A (Spring 2024) -
Latinos+Latinas:Emrg Isu
MAS 365 (Spring 2024) -
Independent Study
MAS 699 (Fall 2023) -
Latinos+Latinas:Emrg Isu
MAS 365 (Fall 2023) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2023)
2022-23 Courses
-
Chicana/O Histgrphy+Tho
MAS 560 (Fall 2022) -
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 475A (Fall 2022) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 475A (Fall 2022) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 575A (Fall 2022) -
Education Of Latina/Os
TLS 475A (Fall 2022) -
Education Of Latina/Os
TLS 575A (Fall 2022) -
Independent Study
MAS 699 (Fall 2022)
2021-22 Courses
-
Adv Research Methods
MAS 580A (Spring 2022) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Spring 2022) -
Latinos+Latinas:Emrg Isu
MAS 365 (Fall 2021) -
Mex-Am Cultural Perspect
LAS 508 (Fall 2021) -
Mex-Am Cultural Perspect
MAS 508 (Fall 2021)
2020-21 Courses
-
Adv Research Methods
MAS 580A (Spring 2021) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Spring 2021) -
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 475A (Fall 2020) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 575A (Fall 2020) -
Education Of Latina/Os
TLS 475A (Fall 2020) -
Independent Study
MAS 599 (Fall 2020) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2020)
2019-20 Courses
-
Mex-Am Cultural Perspect
ANTH 508 (Fall 2019) -
Mex-Am Cultural Perspect
LAS 508 (Fall 2019) -
Mex-Am Cultural Perspect
MAS 508 (Fall 2019) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2019)
2018-19 Courses
-
Latinos+Latinas:Emrg Isu
MAS 365 (Spring 2019) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2018)
2017-18 Courses
-
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 475A (Spring 2018) -
Education Of Latina/Os
ANTH 575A (Spring 2018) -
Education Of Latina/Os
LRC 575A (Spring 2018) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 475A (Spring 2018) -
Education Of Latina/Os
MAS 575A (Spring 2018) -
Education Of Latina/Os
TLS 475A (Spring 2018) -
Independent Study
MAS 699 (Spring 2018) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Spring 2018) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2017)
2016-17 Courses
-
Pop Cult/Media+Latin Id
MAS 150C1 (Spring 2017) -
Social Justice
MAS 150B2 (Fall 2016)
Scholarly Contributions
Books
- Magana, M. R. (2019). Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy. University of California Press.More infoSolo-authored monograph under review with University of California Press
- Magana, M. R. (2020). Mike Garcia and the Justice for Janitors Movement. Los Angeles, CA: Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California, Los Angeles.
Chapters
- Magana, M. R., & Flores-Marcial, X. (2021). Giving Form to Indigenous Futures: Counterpublics, Art, and Technology in Oaxacalifornia. In Indigenous Futures: a Critical Handbook on Indigenous Development.
- Magana, M. R. (2014). Building Horizontal Political Cultures: Youth Activism and the Legacy of the Oaxacan Social Movement of 2006. In Rethinking Latin American Social Movements: Radical Action from Below.. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Journals/Publications
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Rebel Aesthetics: Street Art, Urban Space, and Militarization in Heritage Mexico. Latin American & Latinx Visual Culture.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). The Multimodal Migrant Archive: Murals, Social Media, and Transborder Community Formation in Los Angeles, Oaxacalifornia.”. American Anthropologist.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). The Politics of Black and Brown Solidarities: Race, Space, and Hip-Hop Cultural Production in Los Angeles. Ethnic and Racial Studies.
- Magana, M. R. (2017). Spaces of Resistance, Everyday Activism and Belonging: Youth Reimagining and Reconfiguring the City in Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.
- Magana, M. R. (2016). From the Barrio to the Barricades: Grafiteros, Punks and the Remapping of Urban Space. Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict and World Order, 42(3-4), 170-183.
Presentations
- Magana, M. R. (2023, November).
Horizons of Autonomy: Ethnographic Engagements with Emancipatory Struggles across Abya Yala
. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, Canada: American Anthropological Association. - Magana, M. R. (2023, November). Public Space in Transition: New Meanings and Configurations. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, Canada: American Anthropological Association.
- Magana, M. R. (2023, November). Transitioning towards global frameworks of racialization and intimacy. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, Canada: American Anthropological Association.
- Magana, M. R. (2023, October).
Multimodal Archives and Multi-sited Presence: Cultural Production, Intergenerational Activism, and Belonging in Diasporic Communities
. Colloquium Series Speaker for the Anthropology Department at Northwestern University.. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University. - Magana, M. R. (2021). Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico. Center for Latinx and Latin American Studies New Books SeriesUniversity of Southern California.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico. Center for US-Mexico Studies Research Fellows SeminarUniversity of California, San Diego.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Ethnic Studies: Race, Space, and Youth Culture in the Americas (Keynote speech). Social Justice Speaker Series. Online: Diablo Valley College.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Multimodal Ethnography as Method for Staying True to Political Engagements and Critical Epistemologies (Roundtable Co-Chair and Co-Organizer). American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meeting. Online & Baltimore, MD: American Anthropological Association.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Murales y hashtags como archivos de comunidades transfronterizas [Murals and Hashtags as Transborder Community Archives]. Investigaciones Binacionales del Consorcio UA-UNAM [Research from the Binational UA-UNAM Consortium]. Online: CISAN-UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and SBS Mexico Initiatives of the University of Arizona.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Rethinking the Definitions and Locations of Youth Politics in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa (Panel Discussant). American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meeting.. Online and Baltimore, MD: American Anthropological Association.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Social Movements and Rebel Aesthetics: Street Art, Youth activism, and Urban Space in Mexico. Art and the City: Urban Space, Art and Social Change Conference. online: Aarhus University, Denmark.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Transnational Urban Youth Culture: Race, Space, and Indigeneity in Oaxacalifornia. Latin American Studies Association Meeting. Online.
- Magana, M. R. (2021). Ungovernability and the Future of Protest Under Authoritarianism. Democracy Moves Annual Conference “Global Youth Activism Amid Democratic Decay.”. Online: SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
- Magana, M. R., Tellez, M., Baca, D. P., & Wilkinson-Lee, A. M. (2021, April). A Conversation with Mexican American Studies Faculty. The University of Arizona: Centering Servingness, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Webinar Series. Virtual webinar: University of Arizona: Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives.
- Magana, M. R. (2020, December). #Oaxacalifornia como expresión de las culturas juveniles transnacionales. Comunidades Virtualesy Redes de Conocimiento de las Industrias Culturales y Creativas en América del Norte. Online: CISAN-UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico)..
- Magana, M. R. (2020, November). Abolition, Activism, and Decolonization: New Books Challenging Settler Colonialism and Anti-Black Racism in North America Roundtable. American Anthropological Association annual meeting: Raising Our Voices 2020. Virtual/Online: American Anthropological Association.More infoRoundtable presentation
- Magana, M. R. (2020, November). Border-crossings: perspectives on migration, imagining mobility and the making of anthropology. Goldsmiths Autumn Seminar Series. Virtual: Goldsmith's College London.
- Magana, M. R. (2020, Summer). Transborder Youth Culture as Multimodal Migrant Archive. European Association of Social Anthropologists 2020 Virtual Conference. Online/virtual: European Association of Social Anthropologists.
- Magana, M. R. (2019, November). Rebel Aesthetics: Street Art, Urban Space, and Militarization in Heritage Mexico.. American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Honolulu, HI.
- Magana, M. R. (2019, Spring). Hip-Hop Culture and the Mexican Diaspora. University of Arizona and University of Sonora 44th Annual Symposium on History and Anthropology. UA.
- Magana, M. R. (2019, Summer). Urban Culture, Visual Art, and Diasporic Indigeneity in Mexican Los Angeles. 2nd Annual International Symposium on Shared Cultural Heritage: Memory, Space, Experience, and Borders. Colegio de San Luis, Mexico.
- Magana, M. R. (2018, Fall). Dialogues of Art, Culture and Communication Across Urban Youth Movements in Mexico.. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. San José, CA.
- Magana, M. R. (2018, March). Rebel Aesthetics and Neoliberal Militarization. Center for Latin American Studies Charlas con Cafe Lecture Series.
- Magana, M. R. (2018, May). Constellations of Resistance and Creation: Networking Autonomies, Rebel Aesthetics and Urban Youth Collectives. Latin American Studies Association Conference. Barcelon, Spain: Latin American Studies Association.
- Magana, M. R. (2018, October). Hip-hop and Its Visual Impact in Mexico. Downtown Lecture Series. Fox Theater, Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
- Magana, M. R. (2017, February). Networking Spaces of Resistance and Activism in Oaxaca, Mexico. University of Arizona School of Anthropology Invited Lecture Series. University of Arizona: School of Anthropology.
- Magana, M. R. (2016, April). Youth in Movement: Artists and Organizers Producing Counter-Space. Culture. Power. Social Change colloquium series. UCLA: Department of Anthropology.
- Magana, M. R. (2016, May). Racialized Policing in Los Angeles. Racialized State Violence in Global Perspective Conference. UCLA: UCLA.More infoRoundtable Moderator
- Magana, M. R. (2016, October). KEYNOTE: Art and the Activist Imagination: Reflections from the Ten Year Anniversary of the Oaxacan Social Movement of 2006.. Activist Media Symposium. Kansas University: Kansas University.More infoInvited keynote lecture
Reviews
- Magana, M. R. (2017. Review of The Geographies of Social Movements: Afro-Colombian Mobilization and the Aquatic Space. By Ulrich Oslender.
- Magana, M. R. (2014. Review of Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity: Music, race, and spatial entitlement in Los Angeles..
Others
- Magana, M. R. (2020, October). Archiving Transborder Communities Through Murals and Social Media. Youth Circulations: Tracing the Real and Imagined Circulations of Global Youth. https://tinyurl.com/y2lovjgn
- Magana, M. R. (2020, October). Giving Form to Black and Brown. Dialogues: Blog of the American Studies Journal. https://amsj.blog/2020/10/01/giving-form-to-black-and-brown/
- Magana, M. R. (2020, October). How to Sustain a Mass Movement? Lessons from Urban Indigenous Youth Collectives and “Decolonial Anarchism” in Mexico. University of California Press Blog: Where Bright Minds Share Bold Ideas. https://tinyurl.com/y66whq2f
- Magana, M. R. (2017, March). Seeing Race and Citizenship in the U.S. through Ava Duvernay’s 13th. ANTHROPOLITEIA: Critical perspectives on police, security, crime, law and punishment around the world.More infoInvited blog post on how to teach issues of police/community relationships
- Magana, M. R., & Tellez, M. (2017, March). A Climate of Hate: How Border Militarization Is Getting Deadlier. Truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39981-a-climate-of-hate-how-border-militarization-is-getting-deadlierMore infoEditor-reviewed analysis for online news site Truthout
- Tellez, M., & Magana, M. R. (2017, February 28). Trump’s Border (In)securities. Australian Outlook of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/trumps-border-insecurities/
- Magana, M. R. (2016, June). Educational Reform and Repression in Mexico.. Social Justice Journal Blog. http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/2016/06/More infoInvited blog for the blog of the peer-reviewed journal Social Justice
- Magana, M. R. (2016, October). Engaged Anthropology Grant- Maurice Rafael Magaña. Wenner-Gren Foundation Blog. http://blog.wennergren.org/2016/10/eag_magana/
- Tellez, M., & Magana, M. R. (2016, December). The U.S-Mexico Borderlands. Australian Outlook of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australian_outlook/the-us-mexico-borderlands/More infoInvited blog post