Paula M. L. Moya
Associate Professor and Vice-Chair of English, Stanford University

A native of New Mexico, Paula Moya spent time in Texas (where she earned a B.A. in English at the University of Houston) and New York (where she earned a Ph.D. in English at Cornell University) before coming to California in August 1996 to begin a career as an assistant professor at Stanford University. After being tenured and being promoted to the rank of associate professor of English in January 2002, Moya served for three years as Director of the Undergraduate Program in the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and as Chair of the Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CSRE) major.

Moya's research interests lie chiefly in the areas of Chicana/o cultural studies and feminist theory, but her intellectual and teaching interests incorporate 19th and 20th century American literatures, post-colonial literature and literary and cultural theory. Her main theoretical concern centers on the relationship between a subject's social location and her identity, and seeks to interrogate the epistemic and political consequences of social identity.

Undergraduate courses Moya has taught include "Looking Through Colored Glasses: Writings by Women of Color," "American Literature 1865-1935," "Growing Up in America," and "Introduction to Chicana/o History and Culture," and "Introduction to Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity." Graduate courses include "Identity, Experience, and Knowledge in Feminist Theory," "Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism," "Passions of the Color Line," and "The Modern Tradition I."

Moya's publications include several essays on Chicana feminism, feminist theory, multicultural education, and the epistemic significance of minority perspectives. She is the author of Learning from Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural Struggles (University of California Press, 2002). Her edited books include Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism (University of California Press, 2000), and Identity Politics Reconsidered (Palgrave 2006). For the past five years, she has been actively involved as a founding organizer and coordinating team member of The Future of Minority Studies research project (FMS), an inter-institutional, interdisciplinary, and multigenerational research project facilitating focused and productive discussions about the democratizing role of minority identity and participation in a multicultural society.