Vianney A. Gavilanes, Ph.D.

Vianney Gavilanes is an interdisciplinary scholar of education and a justice-oriented educator grounded in critical social and community practices committed to serving racially and linguistically minoritized communities. Dr. Gavilanes received her Ph.D. in Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender and an M.A. in Social and Cultural Studies from the University of California Berkeley’s School of Education.

Her research foci include processes of racialization and differentiation of (im)migrant youth within educational contexts, the co-naturalization of language and race in relation to (im)migration (forced and volitional), and the politics of language and identity. Dr. Gavilanes’ scholarship promotes equitable and justice-based educational spaces that affirm students’ authentic selves by centering their cultural and linguistic assets. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals Language, Culture and Society and Refuge, and she has been awarded the University of California Dissertation Year Fellowship, the Critical Refugee Studies Collective Research Grant, and the Eugene Cota-Robles Multi-year Fellowship.

Dr. Gavilanes is the creator of Unleashing our Voices/Liberando Nuestras Voces, a series of creative writing workshops for Latinx girls in grades 6-8 soon to launch. Recognizing the connections between identity, language, and culture, the series fosters fierce writing through a culturally and linguistically sustaining curriculum affirming the girls’ creative dreams, cultural wealth, and linguistic repertoire.