Vianney A.Gavilanes, PhD

I am a researcher, educator, and writer born in Jalisco, Mexico, and raised in San Leandro, CA. Growing up in San Leandro as a Mexican migrant child left an indelible mark. My early experiences of schooling in the U.S., memories of sitting in a classroom as a monolingual Spanish speaker, and not understanding a single spoken word transformed English into a site of linguistic violence and political struggle. My experience with losing, finding, and continually affirming my voice as a brown body in a perpetual sea of whiteness and my passion for teaching and learning inform my commitment to serving racially and linguistically minoritized communities. Informed by my fascination with language, experience leading after-school programming for underserved youth, and academic training, I intentionally design dynamic and transformational spaces where students and community members can learn, create, and (re)imagine. I work alongside youth to cultivate their creative self-expression through writing and the arts, recognizing the power of stories and youth’s voices as part of our collective liberation.

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