Meet the Mellon Fellows: Dr. Sarah Montoya

Dr. Sarah Montoya

University of California, Los Angeles
PhD, Gender Studies

Host Site: Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
Fellowship Title: Unpacking Indigeneity, Identity and Heritage of the Anza Expedition Fellowship
Project Description: Dr. Montoya will critically examine the “mestizaje” or mixture of identities of the Anza expedition, the descendants, and Native peoples along the Anza Historic Corridor. Through historical and ethnographic research, the fellow will help unpack the legacies of settler privilege, foreign invasion, and racial identities.

Bio:

Dr. Sarah Montoya earned a Ph.D. in Gender Studies at UCLA. Her dissertation, “Electronic Empires and Digital Domains,” examines technological and computational development in the U.S. through the lens of settler colonial studies. Her work addresses histories of scientific racism, settler state development of telecommunications infrastructure and policy, and the creation and maintenance of geographic information systems. She has extensive experience as a lecturer, curator, researcher, site designer, and programmer on a variety of public humanities projects with a focus on digital mapping and digital explorations of race, space, and legal systems. Before attending UCLA, Sarah earned a Master’s in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio with an emphasis in Latinx literature and borderlands scholarship.

Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

This project was made possible through the National Park Service by a grant from the National Park Foundation through generous support from the Mellon Foundation. The Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship program is administered through a partnership between NPS, NPF, and American Conservation Experience.