Sophia Martinez-Abbud

Biography

Sophia Martínez Abbud is a scholar of and from the US-Mexico border. Her research examines Chicanx and Latinx cultural productions from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, especially those which propose queer, or non-normative narratives. Dr. Martínez’s first book project is tentatively titled “Borderpunk: Literatures of Refusal in the Post-Sixties.” It identifies narrative cultural productions where the border and its technologies of surveillance are reclaimed and repurposed in punk ways—DIY, ugly, underproductive; thus the name, borderpunk. Ultimately she argues that borderpunk narratives encourage us to speculate worlds where social, political, and economic borders are broken down, giving us guidelines for how to create spaces based on inclusive, horizontal participation. In an effort to bring these participatory spaces into being, Dr. Martínez’s classes rely heavily on collaboration, focused on honing research and writing skills that allow students to make use of both academic resources and their own experiential knowledge. She loves to chat with students about borderlands histories, Latinx pop culture, digital spaces and social media discourse, and of course, punk music.