Profile picture of Ernesto Javier Martínez

Ernesto Javier Martínez

IRES Department Head & Associate Professor
CAS Collegiate Faculty
Black Studies, IRES, Latinx
Phone: 541-346-5523
Office: Alder Building
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3-5pm
Research Interests: Comparative Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Latinx Studies, Feminist Theory, Literary Studies

Education

  • Ph.D., English, Cornell University (2005)
  • M.A., English, Cornell University (2003)
  • B.A., English, with Honors, Stanford University (1998)

Statement

I was born in East Oakland, California and raised bi-nationally, moving back and forth between Jalisco, México and the states. I was raised in a Mexican and Puerto Rican working-class household where I learned the value of solidarity, earned rage against injustice, and above all a hopefulness about what tomorrow can bring. I studied literature at Stanford and Cornell, and I’ve been teaching here in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies since 2006. I’m an activist-scholar primarily working in the fields of queer studies, Latinx studies, feminist theory, and comparative ethnic studies. I am also a children’s book author and a filmmaker. I’m eager to support students in finding their own path, contributing to the vibrancy of our communities, and creating mentorship-rich networks.

Publications

BOOKS

  • Cuando Amamos Cantamos/ When We Love Someone We Sing to Them, Illustrated by Maya C. González (Reflections Press,  2018).​
  • The Truly Diverse Faculty: New Dialogues in American Higher Education, co-edited with Stephanie Fryberg (Palgrave Press, 2014).
  • On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility, (Stanford University Press, 2012).
  • Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader, co-edited with Michael Hames-García (Duke University Press, 2011).  

FILM & TV

  • La Serenata [Live Action Feature Film | 80 min]. Co-writer and Producer. Dir. by Adelina Anthony. Currently in Post-Production.
  • Daniel Visits a New Neighborhood: The Movie [Animated TV| 44 min.] Co-Written with Jill Turner. PBS Kids, 2022.
  • La Serenata [Live Action Short Film | 12 min]. Writer and Producer. Dir. by Adelina Anthony. HBO Max, 2020-22.

SELECTED ESSAYS

  • "Con quién, dónde, y por qué te dejas? Reflections on Joto Passivity," Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies.
  • "Constructed Strugglers: The Impact of Diversity Narratives on Junior Faculty of Color," co-written with Stephanie Fryberg. In The Truly Diverse Faculty: New Dialogues in American Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan Press
  • "Officially Advocated, Institutionally Undermined: Diversity Rhetoric and the Subjectivity Reality of Junior Faculty of Color," co-written with Stephanie Fryberg and Victoria Plaut. International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations.
  • "Re-membering Gay Latino Studies," co-written with Michael Hames-García. In Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader. Duke UP.
  • "Shifting the Site of Queer Enunciation: Manuel Muños and the Politics of Form." In Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader. Duke UP.
  • "On Butler on Morrison on Language," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
  • "Dying to Know: Identity and Self-Knowledge in Baldwin's Another Country." PMLA: Publication of the Modern Language Association.

MEDIA COVERAGE