Rafael A. Martínez, Ph.D.

Dr. Martínez grew up in South Central Los Angeles and is a proud alum of California State University, Dominguez Hills. He graduated with a B.A. in History and Chicana and Chicano Studies As a product of the CSU system, Dr. Martínez gained critical perspectives on the importance of education in building individual, family, and community power. 

Dr. Martínez is currently an Assistant Professor of Southwest Borderlands at Arizona State University (ASU) teaching history courses on the American southwest, the Mexico-U.S. borderlands, and migration/immigration to the U.S. His research focuses on immigrant rights, mixed-status families, and Latinx cultural and historical productions in the southwest borderlands. Dr. Martínez’s book with the University of Arizona Press, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States, analyzes the rise of Undocumented Youth Social Movements in the U.S. and immigrant youth’s contributions to the broader Immigrant Rights Movements.