Marla Ramirez

Assistant Professor

College of Letters and Science l Department of History and Chican@-Latin@ Studies

Hometown: Long Beach, CA

Dr. Ramirez is a historian of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands with specialization in oral history, Mexican repatriation, social and legal histories of Mexican migrations, and gendered immigration experiences. She completed her doctoral degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara in Chicana and Chicano Studies and an emphasis in Feminist Studies. For the 2018-19 academic year, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard.

Dr. Ramirez’s current book project, “Contested Illegality: Mexican Repatriation, Banishment, and Prolonged Consequences Across Three Generations,” examines the history of citizenship and naturalization laws and immigration policies of the Great Depression era, focusing on the unconstitutional banishment of US-citizens of Mexican descent that tore apart thousands of families across the US-Mexico border.

Talks:

• The Legacy of Mexican Repatriation: Negotiating Gender, Intimacy, and Family Formations in the Borderlands

  Talk based on Dr. Ramirez’s current book project, which examines the history of citizenship and naturalization laws and immigration policies of the Great Depression era, focusing on the unconstitutional banishment of US-citizens of Mexican descent that tore apart thousands of families across the US-Mexico border.

• Strategies to succeed as a first-generation, minority, and/or immigrant student

  This talk provides strategies for non-traditional students to succeed in college. It also provides resources for the college application process.

• Undocumented Immigration: A Brief Historical Overview

  This talk provides a brief historical overview of undocumented immigration to the United States, border policies, and immigration debates.