Michelle Vasquez Ruiz is an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies. She holds a
BA in Political Science and Chicano Studies from the University of California, Irvine, and an
MA in History from California State University, Los Angeles. She received her PhD in American
Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining UC Berkeley,
she was a UC President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of
Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Vasquez Ruiz’s research focuses on the movement and history of Latinx Indigenous
migration. Her work is grounded in the fields of Chicanx/Latinx studies, Indigenous studies, and
Mobility studies. Her current book project, Undocumented Indigeneity: Indigenous Mobility and
the limits of Immigration Laws and Borders, considers how immigration laws in the US have
governed the movement of Mexican Indigenous communities across borders. This work explores
how US immigration laws, in combination, create a bureaucratic labyrinth that makes accessing
legal entry to the US a tougher process for Indigenous immigrants. Her research employs a
unique oral history methodology that emphasizes Zapotec protocols of discussion and decision-
making to tell a collective story of Indigenous immigrant experiences. In centering the voices of
Indigenous peoples, Undocumented Indigeneity calls attention to how restrictive immigration
laws contribute to the erasure of Indigenous identities and autonomous practices.
Selected publications and projects:
“Mobilities and Ethnic Studies: A Roundtable Discussion,” Ethnic Studies Review 46, no. 3
(2023): 128-154.
https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2023.46.3.128
“Mobile Postcards: Zapotec Imagined Mobility.” Mobilities 17, no. 2 (2022): 285-299.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2021.2016353
“Algún Día Este Autobus Me Llevará a Casa / Someday This Bus Will Take Me Home,” Ethnic
Studies Review 45, no. 1–2 (2022): 87–89.
https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2022.45.2-3.87
