Jesús Nazario (he/they) is a PhD candidate in the Ethnic Studies Department with a Designated Emphasis in Indigenous Language Revitalization at the University of California, Berkeley. Broadly, they interrogate Indigenous cultural change and permanence in North America, with particular focus on traditional ecological knowledge and Indigenous notions of citizenship. Their interdisciplinary dissertation analyzes changes in Nahua identity and cultural practices, specifically regarding Indigenous maize farming practices, that have occurred over the last 30 years as a result of neoliberal policies, industrialization of small-scale farming, and increased migration between the United States and Mexico. Jesús's scholarship foregrounds the vigor of Indigenous political-and-food sovereignty, the importance of developing critical food systems thinking, and the complexity of human and more-than-human relationships in order to build a more just and equitable world. Beyond academia, they are passionate about documentary photography, eating and traveling across the Americas, and speaking Nahuatl—their Indigenous language.
Department and Institution:
Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley
Bio/CV:
