Hi! My name is Dr. Veronica Sandoval, a Tejana from Sullivan City, Texas, who grew up less than 4 miles from the Rio Grande and Mexico. For the last ten years, I have lived in Pullman, Washington, working at various Washington State University service departments and have taught Critical Ethnic Studies and Women Studies. When I teach, I use queer theory, pop culture, historical analysis, personal narratives, testimonio, Chicana Feminist Epistemologies, Chicana Materialism, Women of Color Feminism, Global Feminism, and more. For several years before I even thought of myself as capable of pursuing a college degree, I was a street poet performing at coffee shops, restaurants, cultural centers, and libraries as Lady Mariposa. Poetry, and poetry performance, are essential; it has the power to create organic engagement in communities that are often left outside of traditional academic discourse. My poetry has been a catalyst for my scholarship interests and has been the way that I have met the most outstanding scholars, writers, artists, community members, and students. Without poetry, who I am as an academic would look, feel, and sound completely different. (Listen to me read “There are Cholas.”)
My creative and academic writing has appeared in several anthologies and collections, including Aunt Lute Press, University of Delaware, Lamar University Press, Texas A&M University Press, and Routledge Press. My research focuses on chola labor, chola agency, and an emphasis on Chicana feminist epistemology that centers Chicana legacies of resistance. Other areas of research interest include Borderland Studies, Barrio Studies, Resistance Studies, Immigration, Gloria Anzaldúa Studies, Chola Activism, Chicana Materialism, Adelitas, Pachucas, Chicana Feminist Art, Lowriders, and 1990s Barrio Print Publications.
I have a Ph.D. in American Studies from Washington State University, and my Ph.D. dissertation is entitled “Chola Work: A Genealogy of Homegirl Legacies of Resistance.” To read some of my academic sCHOLArship and creative work, please visit my Academica.edu page.
I look forward to meeting you and having you in our classroom!
Have a beautiful day <3
Dr. Veronica Sandoval
Presenting my Chola research in Dr. Sarah Piña's class, ENG458/SPAN435: “Hispanic Culture through Film,” presenting “Theory in the Flesh: The Power of Chola Political Identity.” Guest Lecture for class screening of “Mi Vida Loca,” University of Wisconsin Parkside, Kenosha, WI (Fall 2019)
Presentation of "Mi Vida Loca," with my homegirl Lizeth, now Dr. Lizeth Gutierrez
Presenting during “Borderlands/La Frontera in the Rio Grande Valley: Poetry & Art Workshops Beyond University Walls,” For El Mundo Zurdo 2019: Planetary Citizenship: Anzaldúan Thought Across Communities, Histories, Cultures. Featured Presenter for Opening Plenary Round Table.
Reading Gloria Anzaldúa's work at her grave during El Retorno as part of the El Mundo Zurdo, Anzaldúa Conference
Presentation of "Mosquita y Mari" with Dr. Lizeth Gutierrez
Presenting a Theory in the Flesh framework through my chola research.
Presenting at the first La Chola Conference: The Study and Work of Homegirls
Presenting as the WSU Campus Civic Poet. For the “MLK Community Celebration: with Keynote Speaker W. Kamau Bell"
Presenting with my friend Dr. Sarah Piña for “Chola’s Chismosa: Countersites of Resistance Through Chola Pinup’s La Chismosa: A Publication for Activist Cholas,” for Panel “Queer Pedagogy and Poetics Sin Fronteras: Chicanx Testimonios y Performance in the Classroom, la Calle, y la Comunidad.” For the NACCS XLV: The Queer Turn, National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS)
Opening Poetry Performance for: “Honoring Indigenous Womxn: Environmental & Personal Wellbeing with Terisa Siangatu,” at WSU
Additional photos of my presentation in Dr. Sarah Piña's class: Teen Angels
Presentation of "Pelo Malo" with my homie Ruben, now Dr. Ruben Zecena
Head organizer for several years of the Dolores Huerta Essay Contest as the Cochair of CAMARADAS at WSU
Presentation with Dr. Ruben Zecena entitled “Claiming, Loving, and Surviving Through Queer Aztlán: An Artivist Workshop,” for “Undocuqueer Week: Seeing the Invisible Conference.” NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Region V Undocumented and Queer in Higher Education Drive-in Conference. Panel Presentation and Poetry Workshop.
Presenting with my homegirls Vanessa Alviso and Madeline Alvizo Ramirez at the 3rd Annual Donald Blake Center Academic Conference. Paper Presentation of “Playing Chola, The Visibility of Discourse: Context and Storytelling Between Subjects and Subject Self,” for the panel “What Cholas Do: Maneuvering Discourse, Education and Art through Chola Subjectivity and Agency.”
Planning Committee member of The Chola Vida La Chola Conference.
sCHOLAr Veronica Sandoval, as Teen and Now
Primary Editor of La Chismosa: A Publication for Activist Cholas
My partner Alex and I during our WSU Graduation in May 2022
Our Gato, Boots Lozano
Boots, also known as Professor Boots Lozano, my teaching assistant
