bio

high school
dropout and
community college
product

BA, MA History
MA, PhD Anthropology

archaeologist and
ethnohistorian

museum and
lab director

specialist in
latinx and
indigenous studies

I’m a formerly incarcerated high school dropout who grew up in the barrios of East Dallas, raised by working-class Latinx parents of Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean heritage. I eventually earned a GED in place of the high school diploma and followed it by completion of an AA degree from Richland College, a community college close to home. I later earned BA and MA degrees in history at the University of Texas at Dallas and completed the MA and PhD in anthropology at Southern Methodist University, where I specialized in historical archaeology. I was a software developer for ten years before starting graduate school, holding Microsoft MCSD and MCDBA credentials, and still write code for purposes of archaeological analysis every now and then.

I’m an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Cal State East Bay (CSUEB) in Hayward, California, where I have taught on the tenure track since 2015 and during the several years prior as an adjunct lecturer. My research uses the methods of historical and experimental archaeology alongside those of material culture studies to address questions of importance to Indigenous and Latinx descendant populations and stakeholders in California, New Mexico, and Florida. I teach a broad array of courses through a decolonial lens, from Archaeological Science and the Archaeology of the Contemporary World to the History of Mexico and Colonial Latin America. I direct the C.E. Smith Museum of Anthropology and the Pacific Earthen Architecture Research Laboratory (PEARL) at CSUEB, where I train students in culturally-sensitive museum and laboratory methods as they relate to the interpretation of Indigenous and Latinx documents and material culture.

I’m married to an elementary school teacher and we have two beautiful and energetic children, Francisco (“Pancho”) and California (“Cali”). I’m an enormous Star Wars nerd, dedicated Giants baseball fan, and increasingly a connoisseur of bad puns and even worse dad jokes.